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HANDBOOKS OF ETHICS AND RELIGION 




THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



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THE RELIGIONS 
OF THE WORLD 



By 
GEORGE A. BARTON 

Professor of Biblical Literature and Semitic Languages 
in Bryn Mawr College 




^ THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 






Copyright 1917 and 1 919 By 
The University of Chicago 



All Rights Reserved 



Published July 191 7 

Second Impression October IQ17 

Third Impression June 191 8 

Second Edition August 191 9 



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Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Press 

Chicajo. Illinois. U.S.A. 



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*T0 

Morris Jastrow, Jr. 

colleague, triend 
masterly estvestigator 

OF THE 
BABYLONIAN-ASSYRIAN RELIGION 



PREFACE 

In attempting a study of the religions of the world, 
one is confronted with the problem of the order in 
which they should be taken up. The order in which 
they are presented in the following pages is that which 
the writer has found most advantageous in his own 
classroom: (i) an outline of primitive religions; (2) the 
religions of Babylonia and Egypt, which approach most 
closely to the primitive type; (3) the other religions 
which have sprung from the Hamito-Semitic stock, the 
reHgion of the Hebrews, Judaism, and Mohammedanism; 
(4) passing eastward to Persia, the study of Zoroastri- 
anism; (5) the religions of India, China, and Japan; 
(6) the religions of Greece and Rome; and (7) the study 
of Christianity. 

To some it may seem unnecessary to treat the 
religion of the Hebrews, Judaism, and Christianity in a 
textbook which forms a part of an educational series in 
which whole volumes are devoted to these subjects, 
but no book on the religions of the world would be 
complete from which a treatment of these great reHgions 
was absent, and it often gives the student a new sense 
of the value of these religions to study them briefly in 
comparison with the other religions of the world. If the 
time devoted to the course is too brief to permit the study 
of so many religions, and if the rehgions of Israel and 
Christianity are studied in other parts of the curriculum, 
chapters iv, v, and xv may be omitted from the course. 

It is believed that teachers will find it useful to have 
their pupils master the outline of each religion given 



X THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

here, and then make it the basis of wider reading. As 
the Hbrary facilities of colleges differ greatly, two lists of 
reading are given at the end of each chapter. If con- 
siderable time can be given to the course, and the 
library contains the necessary material, the student 
should be required to look up the references cited imder 
"Class A." If the Hbrary facilities are meager, or the 
time allotted to the course is brief, then those cited 
under "Class B" should be used. If the teacher deems 
it wiser to direct the student who has mastered the 
text of this book to investigate special topics, such 
topics are suggested in Appendix I, where a list of books 
that will be of use in such investigation will also be 
found. 

A student who works by himself should make him- 
self familiar with the text of this volume as already 
suggested, and, after doing such other reading as the 
works available may permit, should write a brief book 
on the subject for himself. For his guidance an outline 
of such a book will be found in Appendix II. Those 
who take the course under a teacher will find this 
exercise of writing their own books most helpful. 

The writer's thanks are due to Professor A. V. 
Williams Jackson of Columbia for reading and criticizing 
the chapter on Zoroastrianism, to Professor Franklin 
Edgerton of the University of Pennsylvania for like help 
in the chapters on the religions of India, and to his 
colleagues Professors Tenney Frank and James F. 
Ferguson for rendering a similar service for the chapters 

on Rome and Greece. 

George A. Barton 
Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
May, 1917 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

By the insertion in the present edition of a chapter 
devoted to the religion of the Celts and Teutons, a defect 
of the first edition of this little book has been corrected. 
A chapter has also been added on the unfolding of the 
idea of God in the reHgions of the world. This chapter 
will, in part, serve as a review of the student's previous 
work and, it is hoped, direct his mind to a kind of com- 
parative study of rehgion that is profitable and inspiring. 
Minor errors have been corrected here and there through- 
out the book. It is hoped that in its new form the 
volume may continue to meet the needs of the body of 
students whose use of the first edition made a second 
possible. 

George A. Barton 

July, 1919 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Religions op Primitive Peoples ... i 

II. The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria . . i6 

III. The Religion of Egypt 35 

IV. The Religion of the Ancient Hebrews . . 58 
V. Judaism 79 

VI. Mohammedanism 97 

Vn. Zoroastrianism 117 

Vin. The Religion of the Vedas 138 

IX. Buddhism and Jainism 158 

X. Hinduism 178 

XI. The Religions of China . • 201 

Xn. The Religions of Japan 223 

XIII. The Religion of Greece 242 

XIV. The Religion of Rome 265 

XV. The Religion of the Celts and Teutons . . 286 

XVI. Christianity 313 

XVII. The Unfolding of the Idea of God in the 

Religions of the World 335 

Appendix I 360 

Appendix U 374 

Appendix HI 379 

Index 391 

xiii 



CHAPTER 1 

THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 

And yet he left not himself without witness. — ^Acts 14:17. 

I. Primitive peoples, as the term is here employed, 
are the peoples who have never developed sufficiently 
to embody their ideas in literature. They are the 
savage and barbarous tribes of ancient and modem 
times. According to the generally accepted theory of 
evolution, all the civilized peoples of the world have 
arisen from a savage ancestry. The primitive peoples 
of antiquity may be known to some extent through 
survivals of their ideas and customs among their civilized 
descendants, as well as through occasional descriptions 
of their institutions by ancient writers; those of modern 
times, from the descriptions of travelers and mission- 
aries and from the investigations of anthropologists. 

Between the lowest and the highest savages there 
are many gradations. Anthropologists, however, recog- 
nize four well-defined classes of peoples: those of 
the early Stone Age, often called Paleolithic; those of 
the later Stone Age, also called Neolithic; those of the 
Copper Age; and those of the Bronze Age. This 
classification is based on the degree of intelligence 
manifested in making implements. Paleolithic man 
did not shape the stones employed for tools. He 
found, for example, one shaped roughly like an ax and 
used it as an ax. NeoHthic man made flint implements 
and often became very skilful in their manufacture. 



2 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Men of the Copper Age learned to employ copper. The 
passage from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age was 
slow, as men learned with difficulty to employ tin and 
antimony as alloys. Social and religious institutions 
varied with the people's advancement. 

2. The method of studying the religions of uncivilized 
peoples necessarily differs from the method of studying 
the religions of civilized races. In the latter case we 
turn, not only to institutions, but to religious Hteratures; 
in the former we can study only their institutions and 
such myths and ideas as travelers, ancient or modern, 
have collected from them. Myths were the hypotheses 
of prescientific men. By means of them they explained, 
in ways satisfactory to themselves, the world and their 
religious institutions. Myths accordingly often aid us 
in ascertaining fundamental religious conceptions. 

3. The psychological unity of man is one of the most 
striking results of modern investigation. There are, of 
course, details in which the religion of any people differs 
from that of every other people. Indeed, in some 
respects the religion of every individual is peculiarly his 
own; it differs in some details from the religion of 
everyone else, for the facts of the universe impress each 
mind differently. Nevertheless the variations are far 
less than one would expect. The surprising fact is 
that in all parts of the world the minds of men, as they 
react to the fundamental facts of existence, work in so 
nearly the same way. This likeness of the psychological 
processes of man is one of the most striking discoveries 
of modern times. One writer declares: 

The laws of human thought are frightfully rigid, are indeed 
automatic and inflexible. The human mind seems to be a 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 3 

machine; give it the same materials, and it will infallibly grind 
out the same product.^ .... Under ordinary conditions of 
hmnan life there are many more impressions on the senses which 
are everyv^^here the same or similar than the reverse. Hence 
the ideas, both primary and secondary, drawn from them are 
much more likely to resemble than to differ.' 

While, then, early religions differ in innumerable 
minor details, in the great fundamental conceptions 
they are the same. Of many secondary conceptions too 
it may be said that they are all but universal. It is 
not the purpose of this book to follow out the details 
in which the religions of primitive peoples differ, but 
rather to glance at the fundamental ideas and institu- 
tions which they have in common. Such a survey is 
necessary because these fundamental ideas form the 
basis of the religions of civilized peoples, and many of 
these institutions have persisted for centuries in civilized 
religions, often producing far-reaching consequences. 

4. The universality of religion is now generally 
conceded. Man is a worshiping animal; he is 
*%curably religious." Certain Australian tribes, re- 
ported on by Spencer and Gillen, appear at first sight 
to be exceptions to this rule, but a closer study of the 
facts leads one to believe that religion is not entirely 
absent.^ '' Religion is man's attitude toward the 
universe regarded as a social and ethical force," and 
there is no satisfactory historical evidence that since 
man was man there have been peoples who did not 

'D. G. Brinton, Religions of Primitive Peoples (New York, 
1897), p. 6. 

» Ibid., p. 7. 

3 C. H. Toy, Introduction to the History of Religions (New York, 
1913). §§10-12. 



4 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

attempt to enter into social relations with the extra- 
human powers of the universe. 

5. The nature of religion. — Among primitive peoples 
the essential part of religion is not belief, but practice. 
The primary aim is to avert the anger of supernatural 
beings and to secure their aid in the struggle for existence. 
As among men anger is aroused by improper conduct, 
so it is believed to be with the gods. One must be 
careful to do the things that are pleasing to them. The 
gods are supposed to be pleased, not with what men 
think of them, but by the service that is rendered 
them. Rehgion is the proper manners to be observed 
in approaching the gods. Carelessness as to the ritual 
which embodies the proper etiquette toward them is 
thought to arouse the anger of deities and spirits. The 
emphasis in early religions is quite different from that 
in the so-called positive religions. Nevertheless we 
can trace in early religions certain beHefs. 

6. The soul is among all men intimately connected 
with religion. All tribes, even the lowest, observe that 
a human being is made up of two parts, the body of 
flesh and bones, and an impalpable something that lives 
within. This impalpable something, or soul, is called 
by various names, but belief in it is universal. Among 
the lowest Australian tribes it is not as well defined as 
among more advanced peoples, but the belief is still 
there, and a man's Murup or soul may, when he sleeps, 
go off and talk even with the Murups of the dead.^ 
Among savage peoples the soul is thought to have a 
material form. They cannot otherwise conceive of it. 

» See A. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia 
(New York, 1904), pp. 434-42. 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 5 

Perhaps a man's shadow, which, in his ignorance of 
optics, is to the savage inexplicable, contributed origi- 
nally to this belief. Souls were not, however, always 
thought of as existing in human form; sometimes they 
were conceived in animal shapes. Early men generally 
identified the soul with the breath, since they noticed 
that a dead man no longer breathed. They seem not 
to have thought, however, of any one part of the body 
as the home of the soul. 

7. Life after death is another of man's universal 
beliefs. It is only among a few modern thinkers, in 
whom the elemental intuitions are ''sickHed o'er with 
the pale cast of thought," that it has ever been doubted. 
The universality of man's faith in the survival of the 
soul after death is attested in part by the universaHty 
of the belief in ghosts, and in the uniform practice of 
placing food in the tombs of the departed. Among all 
peoples, whether in the two Americas, in Central Africa, 
in AustraHa, or among the ancient inhabitants of Egypt 
or Palestine, not only food and drink, but the utensils 
that the departed had used in life were buried with 
him. Along with quantities of deHcacies Queen Tai, 
of Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty, placed in the tomb of 
her parents splendid easy chairs, a bed, chests of cloth- 
ing, and even a chariot in which they might ride! 
Similarly the Indians bury with their brave his bow and 
arrows for use in the happy hunting-grounds beyond 
the setting sun. 

8. The underworld, while not imiversally believed in, 
plays an important part among many peoples. Except 
where the bodies of the dead are burned, or where, as in 
Northern Alaska, the earth is continuously frozen, they 



6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

are buried in the ground. Where some are deposited 
for a time in trees, as in Australia, they are ultimately 
buried in the earth.' Naturally it was inferred that 
the soul descended into the earth with the body. In 
many parts of the world, accordingly, there is supposed 
to be a great cavern in the heart of the earth in which 
the dead abide. Such was the Aralu of the Babylonians, 
the Sheol of the Hebrews, the Hades of the Greeks, 
and the Hel of the Scandinavians. This underworld 
was generally thought to be a dark and cheerless place. 
The dead longed for the free life of the upper air where 
the sun shone. Among some races, as civilization 
advanced, this underworld was divided into Elysian 
fields in which the good passed cheerful and happy lives, 
and places of punishment in which the wicked received 
the reward of their deeds. BeKef in an underworld is 
not, however, universal. Peoples living near the sea 
have sometimes thought of the dead as dwelling beyond 
the deep; others have thought of them as Kving in high 
mountains; still others have thought of them as Kving 
in the sun, moon, or stars."" Several peoples who have 
begun by thinking of the dead as in an imderworld 
have, as they advanced, transferred that dwelling to 
the sky or to a heaven above the sky. Such a change 
can be traced among the Egyptians. 

9. Animism. — ^As early man was conscious that he 
himself possessed a spirit or soul, so he attributed a 
similar spirit to everything about him, not only to 
animals, in whom the presence of a spirit was manifested 

'Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia 
(London, 1904), pp. 505-56. 

' See Toy, Introduction to the History of Religions, § 65. 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 7 

in action, but to trees, rocks, springs, plants, weapons, 
heavenly bodies, etc. This general belief of men is 
called animism. These spirits might be weak or 
powerful, kind or unkind, helpful or hurtful, but in their 
midst man was compelled to Hve. He must, accordingly, 
come into relationship with them. In course of time the 
good and more powerful spirits developed into gods. 

10. Transmigration. — One of the earliest and most 
persistent behefs is that souls are reborn or reincarnated 
as human beings, beasts, plants, or inanimate things. 
The rise of such a belief is natural. If at the moment 
of a child's birth a person dies, it is natural to infer 
that the spirit has passed from one body to the other. 
Such a behef has been held among savages in America, 
Africa, Asia, and Oceania, as well as by the Brahmins, 
Buddhists, and Plato.^ 

11. Gods are powerful and fully personified spirits 
with whom clans or tribes are beheved to have estab- 
lished friendly relations. It is not always easy to dis- 
tinguish a god from a spirit or ghost. The spirit or 
ghost may be regarded as just as powerful in his sphere 
as Ashur or Jupiter in his, but the sphere of the god is 
larger and his functions are more varied. In the earhest 
times the gods appear to have been the spirits of springs 
or of fertile locaHties. As man was dependent on their 
blessings, it was easy to regard them as powerful and 
beneficent. If the god was the god of a locaHty, it 
might be thought to dwell in a tree or a rock. Later 
the sun, moon, certain stars, the wind, rain, and even 
the sky were personified as gods, i.e., their spirits were 
thought to be influential in himian life, so that man for 

' See Toy, op. cit., §§ 55 £f. 



8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

his own good should cultivate friendly relations with 
them. At times the local spirit of a tribe's dwelling- 
place became associated with the tribe as its god, and 
was gradually detached from its original locahty. Thus 
tribal gods arose. As human society is constituted of 
men and women, so the gods were thought to be male 
and female. 

12. Fetishism. — In many parts of the world a power 
akin to that of man is supposed to reside in certain 
inanimate things. When such objects are parts of an 
animal, such as bones, claws, tails, feet, etc., or of 
vegetables, they are probably thought to retain some- 
thing of the power of the living thing to which they 
belonged. Fetish objects in West Africa are believed 
to be inhabited by spirits. In Australia an object 
called a churinga is regarded as the abode of the soul of 
an ancestor endowed with marvelous power. 

13. Idols. — Closely related to fetishism is the practice 
of making images of the gods, although idolatry is a 
step higher in the process of evolution. An idol is an 
image or an object consciously made by man to rep- 
resent his god. It is a distinct advance when it is 
supposed that a spirit which originally dwelt in a spring, 
or a rock, or a tree, can be persuaded to make its dwelKng 
in an object of man's own manufacture, so that he may 
carry its presence with him continually. 

14. Social organization has everywhere affected the 
conceptions entertained of the gods. It is natural for 
men to think of the earth as a goddess — as the great 
mother of inexhaustible fertiHty. It is also natural for 
them to think of the rain-deity, who enables the earth to 
bear and whose thunderbolts are like a warrior's darts, 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 9 

as masculine. But whether the god or the goddess is 
regarded as the head of the divine family is determined 
by the social organization of human society. In ma- 
triarchal communities a goddess is the superior deity, 
in patriarchal conununities, a god.' 

15. Environment and economic conditions also had 
their influence upon the conceptions of the gods. In 
regions like Arabia, where by far the larger part of the 
land is utterly barren and the fertile oases are the rare 
exception, the struggle for existence is severe. Deities 
of fertility were accordingly there given great promi- 
nence. Such deities have been worshiped in all parts 
of the world, but in these desert regions they have been 
given special importance. 

16. Ceremonies. — Early religious expression consists 
largely of ceremonies. These are of social and economic 
significance. They consist of harvest festivals, or, 
among pastoral peoples, festivals of the yeaning time, 
at which the gladness of the populace finds expression 
as a tribute to deity. Among uncivilized peoples these 
feasts are often orgies of a bestial nature. When, as 
among the Semites, the feast was held in honor of a 
deity of fertility, sexual license was thought to be 
pleasing to such deities.^ But similar license was 
granted at such times in many other parts of the world.^ 
At such feasts wives were often selected and marriages 

* See G. A. Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins, Social and Religious 
(New York, 1902), pp. 1 19-21. * 

'See the article "Hierodouloi" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of 
Religion and Ethics, VI; and Barton, Semitic Origins, pp. iiof. 

3 See, for example, J. Dowd, The Negro Races (New York, 1907), 
p. 137; and for the Fiji Islanders, J. G. Frazer, The Belief in Immortality 
(London, 1913), pp. 433 f- 



lO THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

consummated. As religion covered the whole of life, 
marriage feasts had a certain religious significance. 

Birth, too, was attended with certain other cere- 
monies. But most important of all were the ceremonies 
through which young men, and in parts of the world 
yoimg women, must pass at the age of puberty. These 
initiated the young people into the full Kfe of the tribe 
as adult members; as adults they also came into full 
relationship with the god of the tribe. The ceremonies 
were usually such as to try the courage of the initiate, 
especially of the male, and to predispose the mind to 
religious impressions. Often the men of a tribe have 
for long periods been organized into secret societies 
which had a religious or magical significance.^ 

17. Taboo. — ^Uncivilized men conceive of the super- 
natural as a kind of divine electricity with which many 
things in the world are charged. If things so charged are 
not handled in certain ways, the holiness, or supernatural 
power, will discharge itself and harm the individual. 
From this general conception many prohibitions have 
arisen. These are found among all peoples in early 
stages of development, though they vary in di£ferent 
tribes. The word *' taboo" is taken from a Pol3aiesian 
dialect, where the phenomenon was first studied. Of 
course many taboos prevent activities the harmfulness 
of which are purely imaginary. Taboos have had an 
important influence in the development of ethics. 
Taboos control the actions of men, not only in daily life, 
but during their rehgious festivals and ceremonies, 
though the taboos that are in force at such times often 
differ from those that control daily life. 

» See H. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies (New York, 1908). 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES II 

i8. Totemism is the name given to the system of 
tribal subdivision denoted by totems. Totems are 
natural objects, usually animals, though they are some- 
times plants, assumed as the emblem of a clan or family. 
The name is derived from the languages of the American 
Indians, among whom totemism was first studied. 
The totem is sometimes regarded as the ancestor of the 
tribe and is often closely associated in one way or 
another with its deity. Totemism exists in many parts 
of the world among tribes in a low stage of development, 
though there is no evidence that it has been universal. 
A number of the highly civilized nations of antiquity 
appear, however, to have passed through a totemistic 
stage of development. 

Totemism was a kind of imaginary social alliance, 
offensive and defensive, between a group of human 
beings and the class of animals or plants to which the 
totem belonged. The clan and its totem were usually 
supposed to be akin to one another. In many parts of 
the world exogamous marriage was controlled by the 
totem. If the totem of one tribe would eat the totem 
of another, the two could not intermarry. Among 
many tribes it was forbidden to eat the flesh of the 
totem. Sometimes the animal totem was regarded as 
especially valuable for sacrifices. In totemistic groups 
gods, men, and animals, or plants are thought to be 
embraced in one social organization. Totemism is, 
therefore, intimately connected with rehgion. 

19. Sacrifice.— In all parts of the world men have 
offered to the gods gifts of food. They have assumed 
that the gods needed sustenance as much as they them- 
selves. These gifts have, however, not consisted 



12 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

merely of grain or bloodless offerings, but of animal life 
as well, and, among many peoples, even of human 
victims. Only a few of the higher religions have 
reached a stage of evolution in which animal sacrifice 
is discarded, although human sacrifice survives only 
among the lowest savages. At times the entire victim 
has been burned as an offering to the deity; at times 
the flesh has been consumed by the worshipers, while 
only the bones, the entrails, and the blood were offered 
to the deity. In some rituals the blood has been poured 
out on the earth; in others, care is taken to prevent 
this, lest the earth become surcharged with its sacred 
power. 

The reason why animal sacrifice is a part of all 
early religion is obscure. It is regarded by some as 
a gift to the gods of the most costly kind of food;^ by 
others, as a meal in which the kinship or social bond 
between gods and men is renewed by both partaking of 
the flesh of a totemic victim akin to both;^ by still 
others its significance is found in the bursting forth of 
the victim's blood, the sight of which is supposed to 
appease the offended god.^ Whatever the explanation 
of the practice of animal sacrifice may be, it is clear 
that all men have, at a certain stage of religious develop- 
ment, believed that through it they entered into renewed 
communion with their gods. When great danger has 
threatened a community, so that the deity has been 

^So F. B. Jevons, Comparative Religion (Cambridge, 1913), p. 35. 

'So W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites (London, 1904), Lectures 
VI-XI. 

3 So S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion Today (New York, 
1902), p. 216. 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 13 

thought to be estranged, the most costly victims have 
been offered in order to regain the aid of the god. Under 
such circumstances human sacrifices have been offered 
by peoples who had generally discarded the practice. 
Such was the case when at Marseilles a man was sacri- 
ficed to avert a pestilence;' among the Aztecs, when in 
the fifteenth century human sacrifices were offered to 
avert a famine;^ and among the ancient Moabites, 
when the king sacrificed his son to gain victory in war 
(II Kings, chap. 3). 

20. Circumcision is a rite practiced in many parts 
of the world, though not by all peoples. It was employed 
by the ancient Egyptians, by the Semites, by many 
African tribes, by peoples of Australasia and Polynesia. 
Among some peoples both men and women were sub- 
jected to it. At times great rehgious significance is 
attached to it. For example, among the Hebrews it 
was interpreted as the sign of the covenant between 
the people and Yahweh Qehovah). The reason for the 
origin of the practice of circumcision is obscure. At 
times it has been explained as a sacrifice of a portion of 
the generative organs to the goddess of fertility in 
order to insure fertility; others have seen in the rite the 
sacrifice of a part of the individual instead of the whole; 
while others explain it as a simple device to facilitate 
procreation. 

21. Magic. — Side by side with early reHgions one 
finds magical practices, and there has been much dis- 
cussion as to whether magic originated before religion 
or whether it is a degenerate form of religion. In 

' Jevons, Comparative Religion^ p. 32. 
«/W(f.,p.33. 



14 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

religion men appeal to higher powers to be gracious; 
they seek to gain the good will of gods by offerings and 
prayer; in magic they seek to force supernatural powers 
to do their will. There is in magic no reverence, but 
compulsion only. It is believed that the utterance of 
certain words or the performance of certain ceremonies 
compels spirits to do what men desire. It is impossible 
to tell whether religion or magic is the older; they may 
have been coeval. At all events, they have existed side 
by side in history. Possibly religion was the sponta- 
neous attitude of the earliest men toward spirits suffi- 
ciently powerful to excite fear, while magic was the 
contemporaneous human attitude toward lesser spirits. 
22. Importance of primitive religion. — The rehgions 
of all the civilized nations had their root in the reHgion 
of an uncivilized people. As some of the material of a 
tree comes from the earth through its roots, though 
more comes from the air through the leaves, so civilized 
rehgions, however much they owe to the inspiration of 
great souls after the rise of civilization, owe something 
to the inheritance of the remote, uncivilized past. The 
beliefs of primitive men are often unintelligent and 
their practices often revolting, but through them the 
way outward to the infinite was opened just a httle. 
Each god represented to his worshipers in shadow, 
however faint, some rudimentary conception of the All- 
Father, and we need not doubt that through his worship 
there came to the worshiper in some degree the inspira- 
tion and courage that come from communion with God. 
The universal presence among uncivilized men of religion 
of some sort is evidence that in no part of the world has 
God '^left himself without a witness." 



THE RELIGIONS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 15 
SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. I : A. H. Keane, Man Past and Present (Cambridge, 
1899), pp. 8-23. 

On sees. 2, 5: W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed. (Lon- 
don, 1894), pp. 15-20. 

On sec. 3: D. G. Brinton, The Religion of Primitive Peoples / 
(New York, 1897), pp. i-ii. 

On sec. 4: C. H. Toy, Introduction to the History of Religions 
(New York, 1913), §§ 1-12. 

On sees. 6, 10: C. H. Toy, ihid., §§ 18-45. 

On sees. 7, 8: C. H. Toy, ihid., §§ 45-70. 

On sec. 9: The article "Animism" in Hastings* Encyclopaedia 
of Religion and Ethics, I, 535-37. 

On sec. 11: Toy, op. cit., §§ 635-70; or W. R. Smith, op. cit., 
pp. 28-48. 

On sec. 12: J. B. Jevons, An Introduction to the History of 
Religion, pp. 163-69. 

On sec. 13 : Toy, op. cit., §§ 1091-94. 

On sees. 14, 15: G. A. Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins, 
Social and Religious (New York, 1902), chap, iii, or chaps. 
ii and iii. 

On sec. 16: Toy, op. cit., §§ 101-52. 

On sec. 17: Toy, op. cit., §§ 581-624. 

On sec. 18: Toy, op. cit., §§ 542-59, or 422-559. 

On sec. 19: Toy, op. cit., §§ 1027-84; or Jevons, op. cit., chaps, 
xi and xii. 

On sec. 20: The article "Circumcision," in Hastings' Ency- 
clopaedia of Religion and Ethics, III, 659-80. 

On sec. 21: Toy, op. cit., §§ 883-904. 

CLASS B 

D. G. Brinton, The Religions of Primitive Peoples (New York, 
1897). 



CHAPTER n 

THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 

The holy Tigris, the holy Euphrates, 
The holy scepter of Enlil 
Establish Kharsag; 
They give abundance. 



lord of darkness, protect man! 
O lord of light, protect man! 
O lord of the field, protect man! 
lord of the sanctuary, protect man! 

divine lord, protect the httle habitation! 
O well of the mighty abyss, give protection! 

To Ninkharsag belongs demon-enchantment; 

Brilliant enchantment her hand created; 

Bada opposed to her his word. 
"The house is bright," may she say! 
"The house is good," may she say! 
"A thing lofty, brightest of all," may she say! 
" Unspeakable with the brightness 

Of many cedar fires," may she say! 

O mother, brilliant goddess, come! The flour withhold not 

May thy might man's garden restore! 

O my mother, divine lady, is there no might with thee ? 

To expel the sickness from the land I cry mightily! 

In the fold may there be no demon! 

Sickness, fever, expel! 

— From the oldest known Babylonian religious text.' 

» Written about 2800 B.C. See G. A. Barton, Miscellaneous Baby- 
lonian Inscriptions (New Haven, 19 18), Part I, No. i. 

16 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 17 

lady, with outpouring of heart I earnestly raise to thee 

my voice! How long ? 
lady, to thy servant speak pardon, let thy heart be 

pacified! 
To thy servant who suffers pain grant favor! 
Thy neck turn to him! Receive his entreaty! 
Unto thy servant with whom thou art angry be favorable! 
— From a prayer to Ishtar of Agade. 

Unto the land of No-return, the land of darkness, 



To the house of darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, 
Unto the house whose entrance has no exit. 
Along the way whose going has no return. 
To the house whose entrance is deprived of light, 
Where dust is their food, their sustenance clay. 
Light they do not see, in darkness they dwell. 

— From "Ishtar's Descent to the Lower World."' 

23. Babylonia lay in the southern extremity of the 
Tigris-Euphrates Valley, just north of the Persian Gulf. 
In it there developed one of the two oldest civilizations 
of the world. This civilization was produced by the 
mingling of two races, Semites from Arabia and the 
Sumerians from the mountains of the East. The racial 
aflanities of the Sumerians have not yet been determined. 
The Semites wore long beards; the Sumerians shaved 
both their faces and their heads. ^ Gods in ancient 
times were beHeved to be attached to the soil, and, 
when a new people entered the coimtry, they felt com- 
pelled to seek the favor of the gods of the land.^ From 

^ See G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible (Philadelphia, 1916), 
Part IT, chap, xxiv, § 4, for the whole poem. 

= See Eduard Meyer, Sumerier und Semiten in Bdbylonien (Berlin, 
1896). 

3 An example of this occurs in the Old Testament: 11 Kings 
17:24-34. 



i8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

these customs, reflected in their art, it is proved that the 
Semites were in the land before the coming of the 
Sumerians, for the beardless Sumerians picture their 
gods with Semitic beards! While the Semites were 
first in the land, the Sumerians were the inventors of 
Babylonian writing,' and, apparently, of the higher 
elements of the civilization. 

24. The Semitic background of the Babylonian 
rehgion is of fundamental importance. The Semites 
in Arabia, their cradle land, were compelled by the 
struggle for existence in that barren country to advance 
somewhat beyond most savages of that far-off time. 
They were nevertheless still savages. The world was 
to them animistic; they had, apparently, their totems, 
and their lives were controlled by many taboos. On 
account of the poverty of the country, their social 
organization was matriarchal, and they imagined that 
the relations of their gods to one another resembled 
their own. Their chief deity was, therefore, a goddess, 
whom they called Athtar, or Ishtar, or Attar, or Astar, 
or Ashtar, or Ashtart, according to their various dialects.* 
This name probably meant "the self-waterer "^ and was 
given to her because she was the spirit of the springs in 
the oases. This goddess had a son, who was the spirit 
of the vegetation that grew by the spring; or, more par- 
ticularly, he was the spirit of the date palm. The early 
Semitic name of this god has not survived. He is 

* See G. A. Barton, The Origin and Development of Babylonian 
Writing (Leipzig, 19 13). 

» See G. A. Barton, A Sketch 0} Semitic Origins j Social and Religious, 
chap. iii. 

3 See G. A. Barton, "The Etymology of Ishtar," Journal of the 
American Oriental Society, XXXI, 355-58. 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 19 

generally known as Tammuz, a late form of one of 
his Babylonian names. It is probable that along with 
this mother and son other spirits were more vaguely 
worshiped as her husbands — the spirit of the wind, of 
the moon, of the sun, etc. 

25. The prehistoric period, ca. 5000-ca. 3200 B.C. — 
This period began with the infiltration of Semites into 
Babylonia. They came, apparently, from the south, 
settling first at Eridu, which was then at the head of the 
Persian Gulf, afterward founding Ur, Erech, and a 
group of four towns, Girsu, Nina, Erim,' and Alu-ellu, 
"the bright city," which the Sumerians, translating 
into their language, called Uru-azagga. These four 
were afterward united into the city-state of Lagash. 
Each of these cities was at first the fortified residence 
of a tribe or part of a tribe. In the productive soil of 
Babylonia the matriarchal organization gave place to a 
patriarchal, and in course of time in many centers the 
goddess was superseded by a god. In some cases the 
god was the goddess herself masculinized. Such, for 
example, was Ningirsu, the chief deity of Lagash, whose 
name means "Lady of Girsu." At other times the son 
of the mother-goddess or one of her husbands was 
exalted to the chief place. This was the case at Erech, 
where Anu, the god of the sky, became her father, 
though in reality he never displaced the goddess in the 
affections of the people. Sometimes, probably, she 
was displaced by a Sumerian deity, for the Sumerians 
moved into Babylonia long before the dawn of history, 
and it is impossible in most cases to disentangle the 
Sumerian and Semitic strands. 

' See G. A. Barton, Semitic Origins, pp. 184-201. 



20 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The Sumerians founded Nippur, and perhaps Adab 
and Umma. They also overran the Semitic settlements. 
Perhaps there had been a Semitic settlement at Nippur, 
for Enlil, its god, whose name means ''lord of spirits,'^ 
is pictured with a beard, but the chief importance of 
that city was gained from the Sumerians. During the 
long prehistoric period these cities often fought and con- 
quered one another. When a city ruled the land, 
homage was paid to its god by all conquered cities. 
Meantime the local god was not neglected. It thus 
happened that, when written history begins, Enlil of 
Nippur, Enki (Ea) of Eridu, Anu and Ishtar (often 
called Nana) of Erech, were worshiped throughout the 
country. Each of these cities had for a time held sway. 

Before the end of this period another wave of Semitic 
migration had entered Northern Babylonia. The new 
immigrants occupied the cities of Agade and Kish, the 
gods of which were respectively Shamash (the sun-god) 
and Zamama. Either from this source or from some 
^ other the worship of the sun-god had spread over the 
country before written history begins. 

26. The early Sumerian period, ca. 3200-ca. 2800 
B.C. — During this period the chief rivalry was between 
kings of Lagash and kings of Kish, though other cities 
entered into the struggle also. At times Lagash was in 
the ascendant; at times Kish. Many local gods were 
worshiped and many demons feared. Enlil of Nippur 
(contracted later to EUil; also called Bel by Semites) 
was, however, worshiped by all. Kings of the south as 
well as kings of the north maintained that he gave them 
lordship over the land. Nippur must have been domi- 
nant over the whole land in prehistoric time long 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 21 

enough for Enlil to become recognized as the divine 
suzerain of the whole country. EnUl had a spouse, 
Ninhl, who is also called the goddess Sir, or the serpent- 
goddess. 

Most of our inscriptions for this period come from 
Lagash; more is therefore known of its religion. From 
the reigns of the last two rulers of Lagash before the 
close of this period extensive lists of viands for con- 
sumption at the festivals of various gods have come 
down. In addition to EnHl and Enki (of Eridu) these 
rulers worshiped the deities' of their own fourfold city. 

There were, too, a number of other deities. Whether 
these were originally different, or whether they were 
different epithets of those just mentioned, it is often 
difficult to say. There was a tendency, however, to 
multiply gods by applying to known deities new names. 
In time the new name and the old were thought to 
designate different beings. At all events, the documents 
of this period present a bewildering perplexity of divine 
names. While we cannot explain all of these, it is 
clear that there were many deities, and that the number 
of these was increasing. Ninkharsag, ''the lady of the 
mountain," a name brought from the East, was an 
epithet of Ninlil. Ningirsu, however, received the 
chief homage, and the government of the state was 
carried on as a theocracy in his name. At the sacri- 
ficial festivals, which seem to have been conducted 
mainly in the interest of the worshipers, large quantities 

' Chief of these was Ningirsu, called in one inscription the Patesi, 
or priest-king, of the gods. Bau, goddess of Uru-azagga, Nina, goddess 
of the city Nin4, Ininni, goddess of Erim, and Lugal-Erim, her mascu- 
line counterpart, were also especially honored. 



22 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of beer, black beer, oil, milk, flour, fish, some kind of 
vegetable wine, and sheep were consumed. 

Lagash was a simple agricultural community. Its 
calendar was purely agricultural. The names of the 
months were derived in part from the feasts of the gods 
and in part from the agricultural work that fell in each 
month. Most of the months had more than one name; 
the month March-April, in which the largest number of 
agricultural activities were carried on, had as many 
as fifteen different names! Only one month-name was 
connected with a heavenly body. This month was 
named from the rising of a star, probably Sirius.^ The 
heavenly bodies played as yet little part in Babylonian 
life and thought. As early as 2900 b.c. Enki was re- 
garded as the giver of intelligence — the god of wisdom. 
The reHgious life of Lagash is probably typical of that 
in other Babylonian cities in this period. Similarly 
organized worship was carried on at Eridu with the god 
Enki at its head; in Ur, where Nannar was the supreme 
deity; at Erech, where Nana-Ishtar and Anu were wor- 
shiped; at Nippur, the home of EnKl; at Kutha, whose 
chief god was Nergal; at Kish, the shrine of Zamama, 
and at other centers. 

27. The first Akkadian period ca. 28oo-€a. 2400 B.C. 
— ^Af ter Lugalzaggisi of Umma, who overthrew Urkagina 
of Lagash, had enjoyed a brief period of supremacy, 
Sargon of Agade took the country. The chief deities 
of Umma were Shara and Nidaba; that of Agade, 

'^ On the calendar of this period, see G. A. Barton, "Recent Research 
in the Sumerian Calendar," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 
XXXIII, 1-9, and "Kugler's Criterion for Determining the Order of 
the Months in the Earliest Babylonian Calendar," ibid., pp. 297-305. 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 23 

Shamash, the sun-god. During this period Babylonian 
armies reached the Mediterranean. After Agade had 
ruled for nearly two hundred years, a foreign dynasty 
from Gutium on the east held the land for 159 years. 
Each new dynasty brought in new gods, but the general 
features of the religion remained the same. With the 
domination of Agade the worship of Shamash, the sun- 
god, became more general. His consort, the water- 
goddess Ai, later known as Malkatu or ^Hhe Queen," 
emerged in this period. The moon-god, Enzu, also 
became prominent. The dynasty of Agade was a part 
of that branch of the Semitic race known as Amurru, or 
Amorites, whom we find in Syria and Palestine. It is 
not surprising, therefore, that under this dynasty two 
gods, afterward worshiped on the Mediterranean coast, 
appear in Babylonia. These are Adda, or Hadad, the 
god of wind and storms, and Dagon, the corn-god. 

Another new feature of the religion of this period is 
the deification of certain kings during their lifetime. 
Rimush and Naram-Sin were both honored as gods. 
Babylonian kings did not usually pretend to be divine. 
Why these two were so honored we cannot tell. 

Toward the end of this period, probably under the 
dynasty of Gutium, Ur-Bau and Gudea flourished as 
priest-kings at Lagash. Gudea built a palace, and both 
repaired the temple. Gudea placed a brazen sea in the 
temple as Solomon did at Jerusalem (I Kings 7:23-26). 
Both Ur-Bau and Gudea left inscriptions from which 
we discover the names of the gods of Lagash worshiped 
in their time. Some of the divine names of the earher 
period have vanished, and several new ones appear, but 
none of these became permanently important. We 



24 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

learn from the inscriptions of Gudea that Anu, Enlil 
(Bel), and Enki (Ea, who was regarded as the god of the 
deep) had been grouped in a triad. These gods repre- 
sented respectively the sky, the earth, and the sea. 

28. The dynasties of Ur and Nisin, ca. 2400-ca. 
2100 B.C., after a brief interval, followed the dynasty 
Gutimn. The triumph of Ur was a triumph of the 
Sumerians. We begin in this period to meet the name 
Sumer for Southern Babylonia. North Babylonia was 
called Akkad, a corruption of Agade. With the triumph 
of Ur its god Nannar became prominent. A large 
number of new deities appear in the inscriptions of this 
period. Gula (derived from Bau by the use of an epi- 
thet) is one of these. Most of them are not important; 
Dungi, the second monarch of the dynasty of Ur, was 
deified and extensively worshiped in his Kfetime. Bur- 
Sin and Gimil-Sin, his successors, were also regarded as 
gods. 

29. The first dynasty of Babylon, about 2100 B.C., 
made the city of Babylon mistress of the country. This 
djmasty had arisen out of a new wave of Amoritic 
immigrants who had come into the country. The chief 
god of Babylon was Marduk, whose worship now 
became prominent, but the older deities were all honored 
too, especially the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea. Among the 
bewildering number of new divine names that came into 
use in this period there is one that was destined to play 
a great role in the later religion of Babylonia and 
Assyria. This was Nabu, god of Borsippa, opposite 
Babylon, who later became the god of eloquence and of 
writing. Frequent mention is made of the spirits of 
heaven and the spirits of earth. By this time greater 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 25 

knowledge of the stars had also been attained. The 
goddess Ishtar had been identified with Dilbad, the 
star Venus, and apparently some rudimentary knowl- 
edge of the signs of the zodiac had been gained. 

30. The Kassite dynasty, about 1750 B.C., came in 
from the East and occupied the throne of Babylon for 
576 years. Barbarians at first, the Kassites soon 
assimilated Babylonian culture. They added Httle to 
Babylonian religion except a few barbarous divine names 
like that of their war-god, Shukamuna. Early in the 
Kassite period Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar, representing 
the moon, sun, and Venus, were grouped together as a 
triad. By this time the city of Lagash had been 
destroyed and its god, Ningirsu, known now as Ninib, 
was detached from his local origin and worshiped as a 
sun-god. 

31. Assyria emerges from obscurity about 2100-2000 
B.C. The dominant strain in its population was Semitic, 
derived partly from Babylonia and partly from the 
West. Recent discovery shows that Babylonian immi- 
grants went thither as early as 3000-2800 B.C. 

The national god of Assyria was Ashur, the deity of 
the city of Ashur, but from early times Anu and Adda 
were also worshiped there with him. Nineveh, later 
the capital, was founded by immigrants from Nina, a 
part of Lagash. They brought their goddess Nina 
with them, later calling her by her Semitic name Ishtar. 
Ishtar was also the chief deity of Arbela, another 
Assyrian city. The Ishtar of Arbela became a warrior 
goddess — the goddess of the bow. Assyria was the 
most warlike and ruthless of the ancient nations. Her 
kings boasted of impaling men and flaying them aKve. 



26 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Their deities Ashur and Ishtar were accordingly cruel. 
The Ass)n:ian kingdom lasted until 606 B.C. Through- 
out its history many Babylonian deities were wor- 
shiped, since Assyrians always looked up to the ancient 
divinities of their mother-country. 

32. The neo-Babylonian empire, 625-538 B.C., 
added Kttle to the religion of the coimtry. In this 
period we find the triad Sin, Shamash, and Adad (the 
moon-, sun-, and the weather-god), as well as the triad 
Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar. The worship of a multitude 
of deities was maintained, but Marduk, Nabu, Ishtar, 
Shamash, and Sin were the most popular. After 
Babylon lost her independence the worship of local 
deities w2ls in some places continued down to the Chris- 
tian era. 

33. Monotheism was never attained or even ap- 
proached by the Babylonians. In the early time the 
nearest approach to a conception of unity was the for- 
mation of the triads, Anu, Bel, and Ea; and Sin, 
Shamash, and Ishtar. Perhaps in the latest period 
some priests went farther, for a neo-Babylonian Ktany 

reads: 

Ninib is the Marduk of might, 

Nergal is the Marduk of fight, 

Zamama is the Marduk of battle, 

Enlil is the Marduk of dominion, 

Nabu is the Marduk of superintendence ( ?) 

Sin is the Marduk of nocturnal Hght, 

Shamash is the Marduk of decisions, 

Adad is the Marduk of rain [etc.]. 

The author of this litany saw in the activities of these 
gods Marduk performing different functions, but there 
is no evidence that his view was shared by any con- 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 27 

siderable number of people. Some of the gods kept 
many functions till the end. Some were gradually 
assigned more and more to special functions. Thus Ea 
(Enki) became in very early times the god of wisdom, a 
role that he maintained till the end. Shamash, the god 
of Hght, naturally became the god of justice, and 
Hammurapi before 2000 b.c. professes to have received 
from him the great code of laws. 

34. Creation-myths. — In Babylonia and Assyria, 
various creation myths were developed. One of the 
oldest assumes the existence of the earth and narrates 
the building of cities and the development of agriculture. 
Another, which is known only through a broken tablet 
written about 2100 B.C., attributes the creation of the 
world to the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea, together with the 
goddess Ninkharsag, while Nintu or Ishtar created 
mankind. The best known of these myths was in late 
Assyrian and Babylonian times developed into an epic 
in seven tablets or cantos. The essence of this story is 
that Tiamat, the great mother-dragon of the sea, deter- 
mined to destroy the gods whom she had borne. They 
then chose one of their number, Marduk, to fight her; 
he overcame her, split her in two, and formed of one 
part of her the heavens and of the other the earth. 
There is evidence that in substance this myth is very 
old and that, in earlier forms of it, EnHl of Nippur and 
Ea of Eridu had stood in place of Marduk. In still 
another creation-myth the god Ashur is the chief actor. 
Such a myth was the natural product of lower Babylonia, 
where, on account of the annual overflow of the rivers, 
the sea seems to come and try to overwhelm the 
land. 



28 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

35. Gilgamesh is a name around which another cycle 
of myths and legends clusters. These now form an epic 
in twelve tablets or cantos. Some of the myths come 
from that very early time when gods and men were 
thought to mingle freely together, others embody appar- 
ently bits of history, while still others reflect compara- 
tively advanced thoughts on death. One interesting 
passage tells of the creation of a primitive man by the 
goddess Aruru from a bit of clay taken from the groxmd. 
It is strikingly like the creation of man in Gen. 2:7. 
The whole epic is now arranged in twelve parts according 
to the signs of the zodiac, and is thought by some to be 
at bottom a sun-myth. The eleventh canto contains an 
account of the flood almost identical with that in the 
Bible." 

36. Ishtar*s Descent is the name of another mythical 
poem, which describes the underworld.^ A quotation 
from it stands at the head of this chapter. The myth, 
so far as it relates to the goddess, undoubtedly had 
its origin in the annual death of vegetation in the burn- 
ing sun of a Babylonian summer. The picture which 
it affords of life after death is most gloomy, but is 
not unlike that found in Isa. 14:9-11 and Ezek. 
32:22-32. 

37. Other mjrths relate to various matters. Two 
are concerned with the acquisition of knowledge on the 
part of man. According to one of these, preserved to us 
by Berossos, Oannes (a late name for Ea) was a fish-god 
who lived in the water at night, but came up by day and 

^ The tablets ou which the Gilgamesh Epic and Ishtar's Descent 
are written come from the seventh century B.C., but both poems are 
probably much older. 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 29 

taught men agriculture, horticulture, the art of building 
houses, and how to make laws. According to another, 
called the Adapa-myth, Ea feared lest man, who had 
become intelligent, should partake of the food of the 
gods and become immortal. At a time when Ea knew 
that other gods would offer Adapa such food he warned 
Adapa not to partake of it, lest it destroy him. Adapa 
obeyed Ea and thus missed immortahty. These myths 
reflect the feeling that, while the gods are willing to help 
man up to a certain point, they are jealous of his too 
great advancement. 

Another myth relates how Etana, a shepherd king, 
after various adventures with a serpent and an eagle, 
essayed at last to mount to heaven on the back of an 
eagle. Still another myth relates how the zw-bird 
broke the wing of the south wind. 

38. Temples, built generally of brick, the common 
Babylonian building material, existed in Babylonia 
from the dawn of history. From the walls of some of 
them which have been discovered, it appears that they 
were elaborate structures built on brick terraces. They 
contained, besides the sanctuary for the chief deity, 
minor sanctuaries for other deities and extensive 
apartments for priests and temple attendants. To each 
temple was attached a ziggurat, or staged tower. This 
represented a mountain peak as Gudea's brazen sea 
represented the deep. The deities were represented by 
idols, and on festal days were carried in procession in 
"ships." It was a pious deed for a king to present a 
god with one of these "ships." 

39. Priesthoods had developed in the prehistoric 
period. Later, elaborate liturgies were developed. As 



30 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

time advanced, the duties of the priests were differ- 
entiated; some gave themselves to the ordinary duties 
of a priest, while others were set apart for the observance 
of omens, and still others for the recitation of the incan- 
tations which were supposed to drive out the demons of 
sickness. In connection with the temples there also 
existed men and women who represented the Kfe-giving 
functions of the deity. It was their duty to have 
commerce with those who resorted to the temple for 
the cure of sterility.' 

The Babylonian priesthood was the learned class. 
Among them the art of writing was kept ahve. Schools 
of instruction existed in the temples, from which some 
of the students' exercises have survived. Here men 
were trained, not only in mathematics and bookkeeping, 
which were necessary for the administration of the large 
temple estates, but in the religious Hterature. In the 
temples the hymns and myths were copied and preserved. 

40. Divination as a means of ascertaining the future 
was practiced throughout Babylonian history. The 
earliest method mentioned was by pouring oil upon 
water. Skilled diviners were supposed to read the 
future in the shapes assumed by the oil. King Urkagina, 
before 2800 B.C., found it necessary to regulate the 
charges for such divination. A form of divination that 
became prominent under Sargon of Agade was the 
inspection of the markings on the Uver of a sheep. In 
later time this developed into an extensive pseudo- 
science. From Babylonia it extended to the Etruscans 
and the West. Augury was practiced by watching the 

* See G. A. Barton, " Hierodouloi (Semitic and Egyptian)" in 
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VI, 672-76. 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 31 

flight of birds. Omens were also derived from mmatural 
and deformed births, both of animals and of hmnan 
beings. In the late Assyrian and neo-Babylonian 
periods omens were drawn from the stars, and the 
pseudo-science of astrology was formed. It also spread 
to other countries, and is practiced to the present day 
even in our own land. It is difficult to tell whether 
some of these practices were more closely related to 
rehgion or to magic. 

41. Incantations were extensively employed through- 
out Babylonian history for the cure of sickness. This 
is the more remarkable since medical knowledge had so 
far advanced before 2000 B.C. that the Code of Ham- 
murapi contained laws relating to medical practice. 
To the end, however, disease was regarded by the masses 
as a kind of demoniacal possession, and it was thought 
that by reciting incantations the demon could be driven 
out. A number of these incantations have survived. 

42. Prayers and hymns employed in the temple 
service and in private devotions have also been pre- 
served. Some of them are beautiful in form, and 
touchingly present the suppliant's sense of need and his 
cry for help. Some of the appeals remind one of parts 
of the Hebrew Psalter. 

43. Sin and atonement. — The Babylonian sense of 
sin seems to have been simply a consciousness, brought 
on by misfortune, that some god or gods were angry 
and estranged. It does not appear to have had a 
marked ethical content. The main effort was to appease 
the divine anger, so as to remove the affliction. From 
the earhest times sacrifices were thought to accomplish 
this, but sacrifice was reinforced by pathetic personal 



32 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

appeal and by intercession. In the penitential psalms 
one god or a group of gods is frequently called upon to 
intercede with the deity who is angry. About 2400 
B.C. this intercessory idea found expression in a proper 
name. A man called his son Ningirsu-zidda-^agUie- 
Nind-ta^ i.e., '^Ningirsu brings the blessing from Nina." 

44. Ethics. — ^The Babylonians developed at an early 
time a highly organized social and conmaercial life, 
which, as the Code of Hammurapi shows, was controlled 
on well-formulated principles of justice. All the con- 
tingencies of such a society, even those of commercial 
travelers, are provided for in a way that denotes a high 
degree of ethical feeling. The gods, although in the 
myths they sometimes lie to men and deceive them, 

r were believed to demand ethical conduct of their wor- 
shipers, for in the code provision is frequently made for 
the employment of oaths as guaranties of obligations. 
In the general ethics of ordinary Hfe the Babylonians 
were fully abreast of other nations. The Assyrians 
were more backward. Perhaps in private Hfe they did 
not fall behind the Babylonians, but in war they were 
the most cruel of all the great nations of antiquity. 

45. In general, the spirit of the Babylonian and 
Assjnrian religion is well summed up by the quotations 
at the head of this chapter. Their pantheon was a 
highly developed polydemonism. They Hved in con- 
stant fear of the demons of floods, pestilence, and 
darkness. Some of their gods were good; they gave 
life and could protect it if they would; but sickness and 
misfortune, which were all too frequent, made the 
worshiper realize poignantly their estrangement. Hence 
the frequent and pathetic appeals for mercy. Then at 



THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRL\ 33 

the end came death, inscrutable mystery, and ruthlessly 
swept man into a most cheerless imderworld ! 

Acute as the Babylonians were in working out the 
initial problems of agriculture, social organization, 
mathematics, and astronomy, they produced in the 
entire course of their history no great prophetic or 
philosophic soul. Their religion remained, therefore, 
to the end a religion of grown-up children. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 24: either L. B. Paton, "Ishtar" in Hastings' Ency- 
clopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VH, 428-34; or G. A. 
Barton, Sketch of Semitic Origins, chap. iii. 

On sees. 25-33: R. W. Rogers, Religion of Babylonia and 
Assyria (New York, 1908), pp. 49-98; or M. Jastrow, Jr., 
Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (New York, 1898), 
pp. 48-234, or Aspects of Religious Belief in Babylonia 
and Assyria (New York, 191 1), pp. 143-206. 

On sec. 34: either L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation 
(London, 1902), pp. 1-155; or R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform 
Parallels to the Old Testament (New York, 191 2), pp. 1-60, 
or Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (New York, 1908), 
chap, iii; or R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature 
(New York, 1901) , pp. 282-303 ; or G. A. Barton, Archaeology 
and th€ Bible (Philadelphia, 191 5), Part II, chaps, i-viii. 
Chapter viii of the last-mentioned work contains material 
not found in the other books. 

On sec. 35: R. F. Harper, op. cit., 324-68; or M. Jastrow, Jr., 
Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (New York, 1898), pp. 
467-517. 

On sec. 36: R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Tes- 
tament, pp. 1 21-31; or G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the 
Bible, Part II, chap, xxiv, §4; or M. Jastrow, Jr., Religion 
of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 556-611. 



34 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

On sec. 37: R. F. Harper, op. cit., pp. 304-23. 

On sees. 38, 39: Jastrow, Religion, etc., pp. 612-89, or Aspects 
of Religious Belief, etc., pp. 265-350. 

On sec. 40: L. W. King, History of Sumer and Akkad (London, 
1910), pp. 183 ff.; Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief, etc., 
pp. 143-255, and Baby Ionian- Assyrian Birth-Omens and Their 
Cultural Significance (Giessen, 1914), pp. 1-41. 

On sec. 41: Jastrow, Religion, etc., pp. 253-93. 

On sees. 42,43: R. W. Rogers, Religion, etc., pp. 142-84; or 
Jastrow, Religion, etc., pp. 294-327. 

On sec. 44 : Jastrow, A spects of Religious Belief, etc. , pp. 351-418. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions, I (New York, 1913), chap. x. 



CHAPTER m 

THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 
King Unis is one who eats men and lives on gods. 

It is "Piinisher-of-all-evil-doers" 
Who stabs them for king Unis; 
He takes out for him their entrails. 
........... 

Shemsu cuts them up for king Unis 
And cooks for him a portion of them. 

He has taken the hearts of the gods; 

He has eaten the Red, 

He has swallowed the Green. 

King Unis is nourished on satisfied organs, 

He is satisfied, Hving on their hearts and their charms. 

He hath swallowed the knowledge of every god.* 

— From a pyramid text of the Fifth Dynasty. 

If thou art the son of a man of the council .... be not 
partial. 

If thou becomest great after thou wert little, and gettest 
possessions after thou wert formerly poor in the city, .... be 
not proud-hearted because of thy wealth. It has come to thee as 
the gift of the god. 

If thou searchest the character of a friend, .... transact 
the matter with him when he is alone. 

Let thy face be bright as long as thou livest. 

— From the precepts of Ptahhotep.* 

^ Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Eygpt 
(New York, 1912), pp. 127 f. 
' Breasted, ibid., pp. 234 f. 

35 



36 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Thou, O Amon, art lord of the silent, 

Who Cometh at the cry of the poor. 

When I cry to thee in my affiction, 

Then thou comest and savest me. 

That thou mayest give breath to him who is bowed down. 

And mayest save me Ijdng in bondage. 

Thou, Amon-Re, lord of Thebes, art he, 

Who saveth him that is in the Nether World, 



When men cry unto thee, 

Thou art he that cometh from afar. 

— From a hymn of the Empire period.' 

46. Egypt is unique among the countries of the world 
for its form and its isolation. Created by the river 
Nile as a narrow strip of green out of the barren and 
almost trackless deserts which bound it on either side, 
Egypt was long isolated. Here she worked out alone 
the problems of civilization centuries before she was 
drawn by the impact of foreign invasion into the whirl- 
pool of world-affairs. 

We have no positive knowledge concerning the sav- 
ages who may have occupied the Nile Valley before it 
was settled by the ancestors of the Egyptians. We only 
know that about 5000 B.C. or earKer forty-two tribes, 
most of whom seem to have belonged to the Hamitic 
branch of the Hamito-Semitic race, settled there.^ 

47. The prehistoric period, ca. 5000-ca. 3400^ B.C. — 
During the first part of this period each tribe seems to 

' Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, 

p. 351- 

'See G. A. Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins, Social and Religious, 
chap, i; "Tammuz and Osiris," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 
XXXV, 213-23. 

3 For a discussion of Egyptian chronolog}^ see Breasted, Ancient Rec- 
ords, Egypt, I, 25 ff.; or Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, chap, i, § 5. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 37 

have been independent. Each had its separate god, 
and, like many other early tribes, they appear to have 
been henotheists. At this period there seems to have 
been a different totem for each tribe, although the 
relation of animals to their rehgious and social organiza- 
tion does not conform altogether to the laws of totemism 
as formulated from the study of its features in other 
parts of the world.' Nevertheless in each Egyptian 
nome* or tribe an animal or a bird was so closely asso- 
ciated with the god that it was thought to be sacred to 
the deity, and the god was often represented in the 
form of the totem. Thus Amen of Thebes was repre- 
sented by the ram, Ptah of Memphis by the bull, Atum 
of Heliopolis by the Hon, Bastet of Bubastis by the cat, 
Har-khent-kheti of Athribis by the serpent, Harshef of 
Akhnas by a ram, Hathor of Denderah by the cow, 
Khnum of Elephantine by the goat, Khons of Thebes 
by the sparrow hawk, Min of Koptos by an ithy- 
phallic man, Mut of Thebes by the vulture, Nekhbet of 
El-Kab by the vulture, Opet, a goddess of childbirth in 
Thebes, by a pregnant hippopotamus, Osiris of Busiris 
and Abydos by a peculiar post which seems to have 
been a conventionalized palm tree, Horus of Edfu by 
the sparrow hawk. Set of Ombos by the ass, Shu of 
Leontopohs by the lion, Sobk of the Fa)rum by the 
crocodile, Thoth of Hermopolis by the ibis and baboon, 
Wto of Buto by the serpent, and Wep-wat of Siut by 
the wolf. Such information as we have comes from 

* Cf. C. H. Toy, Introduction to the History of Religions, §§ 515-21. 

'"Nome" is the word applied by Greek writers to the different 
divisions or " counties " of ancient Egypt, each one of which was originally 
occupied by a different tribe. 



38 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

later times, and while we cannot trace the animal which 
was sacred in every nome, we can trace so many that 
the inference is justified that every tribe had its sacred 
animal or plant. In some nomes more than one animal 
was sacred. This may indicate that in the lapse of 
centuries war and invasion created in such cases a 
mixture of different tribes. This association of animals 
with Egyptian gods was so long continued, and their 
civilization crystallized sacred customs at a time so 
early, that the animal representations of the deities 
continued down to Roman times. 

The physical environment of the Hamitic tribes in 
North Africa was so similar to that of the Semitic tribes 
in Asia that the power to produce life appeared to these 
tribes, as to the Semites, to be an especially divine 
quality. There is reason to believe that the larger 
number of Egyptian gods were at the beginning gods of 
fertility. The most popular of these deities of fertility 
in later times was Osiris and his sister-wife, Isis. Isis 
was a mother-goddess and is pictured nursing a child- 
god in the reed lands.' Though the myths of Osiris 
make her prominent, she seems herself to have become 
popular in actual worship only in late times. 

On some of the pottery found in pre-dynastic tombs 
it appears that standards were attached to different 
boats, some of which were in animal form. Whether 
these were private emblems or were the banners of 

^ See Erman, AegypHsche Religion, 2te Aufl. (Berlin, 1909), p. 40. 
The writer has stated above his own view of the god Osiris, but 
opinions differ. According to some scholars he is Tammuz or Marduk, 
borrowed from Babylonia or from the Semites, and given another name. 
According to Frazer, Adonis, Atiis, Osiris (London, i9i4)» he is a 
corn-god. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 39 

different tribes, we have no means of knowing.^ Little 
by little through many wars these tribes were united 
into two kingdoms. The territory from near the first 
cataract to the apex of the Delta formed the kingdom 
of Upper Egypt, the region of the Delta formed that 
of Lower Egypt. These two kingdoms existed side 
by side for several centuries, or at all events for a 
time so long that to the end of Egyptian history Egypt 
was called the two kingdoms or the two Eg3^ts. 
Like Austria-Hungary it was a dual monarchy. The 
names of a few kings who reigned before the union 
of these two kingdoms have survived on the Palermo 
stone.* 

As in Babylonia, the victory of one city over another . 
led to some measure of worship being given by the 
conquered to the god of the conquerors. The deity of 
the nome whose chieftain ruled the kmgdom was wor- 
shiped in all the nomes composing the realm along with 
the local gods. Thus the worship of some gods tended 
to become universal in the coimtry, and a syncretism 
began which in the end created pantheons. At some 
time, while the two kingdoms were separate, Set, the , 
god of Ombos, was regarded as the god of Upper Egypt, 
and Horus of Behdet the god of Lower Egypt. A war 
occurred between the two realms in which Lower Egypt 
was victorious. Horus was said to have triumphed 
over Set. In later generations the political circum- 
stances were forgotten, though the myth of the strife 
remained, and the priests of later centuries, assigning to 

^ See E. A. W. Budge, History of Egypt (Oxford University Press, 
1902), I, 78. 

^ See Breasted, Ancient Records, Egypt, I, 57. 



40 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Horus the functions of Kght and to Set those of darkness, 
read deeper meanings into the myth of this conflict.' 

48. The archaic period, ca. 34oa-ca. 3000 B.C. — 
About 3400 B.C. the kingdoms of Upper and Lower 
Egypt were united into one monarchy by Mena, or 
Menes, and that period began which Manetho covered 
in his chronicle. This writer divided the time from 
Mena to Alexander the Great into thirty-one dynasties. 
The archaic period covers the time of the first two 
dynasties, both of which came from the nome of This 
in Upper Egypt, the chief city of which was Abydos. 
The original god of This was Enhor, but in some 
way that is now obscure the worship of Osiris, the 
god of Busiris in the Delta, had become popular at 
Abydos. Perhaps a colony from Busiris had settled 
in Abydos. The long supremacy of the nome of This 
under the first two dynasties gave to the worship of 
Osiris as the most popular god of This a vogue in all 
parts of Egypt which the theories of later ages tended 
to heighten. Mena chose the city of Memphis, near 
the borders of the two kingdoms that he had united, as 
an administrative center. This fact tended to bring 
into prominence Ptah, the god of Memphis. During 
this period a great advance in the conception of the 
divine appears to have been made. Images of the gods 
began to be represented in human form. This was a 
distinct advance over the animal forms of the earher 
time. The older ideas were still expressed, however, 
by giving to the statue of the god the head of the animal 
that represented that particular deity. Thus originated 

' Cf. G. Steindorf, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York, 
1905), p. 30- 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 41 

divine images, the bodies of which were in human form, 
while the heads were those of animals or birds. 

During this period and the preceding the king, 
through the evolution of an absolute government, 
came to stand entirely apart from the people. In an 
animistic stage of society any man who rises above his 
feUows by the exercise of superior ability is supposed to 
be possessed of a more divine spirit than the common 
crowd. It thus came about very naturally that the 
kings were now regarded as gods. 

49. The Old Kingdom, ca. 3000-ca. 2475 B.C. — 
This includes Dynasties III, IV, V, and VI. It is the 
period in which the long processes through which 
Egypt's civilization had been developing reached their 
first culmination. It was the age of pyramid-builders. 
In it the great pyramids came into existence. Dynasties 
III and IV were attached to Memphis, and Memphis 
was the capital of the country throughout the period. 
The poKtical supremacy of his city tended to increase 
the importance of the worship of the god Ptah in all 
parts of Egypt. The Fifth D)aiasty came from the 
family of the priesthood of On (Gen. 41:45), called 
HeliopoHs by the Greeks. At On, Atiun had by this 
time been identified with the sun and was often called 
Re, the Egyptian word for the sun. The ascendency 
of this priestly family in the Fifth Dynasty gave Re a 
degree of universal homage in all parts of Egypt that he 
never afterward lost. 

In this period the sky was sometimes represented 
as a gigantic cow, whose legs stood upon either horizon, 
and whose belly was studded with stars. Sometimes 
the sky was pictured as a woman, whose feet stood upon 



42 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

one horizon, and who stooped so that her fingers touched 
the other/ It was thus that the mother-goddesses of 
the earlier time began to be transferred to the sky. 

The long-continued existence of Egypt under one 
ruler produced in this period in the minds of the more 
thoughtful a sense of the unity of the world. It began 
to seem anomalous that there should be so many deities. 
This difficulty was met in part by the assignment of 
different functions to different deities — Geb became a 
sky-god; Nut, the earth-goddess; Shu, the god of the 
air, etc. To some degree the end was also sought by 
grouping the gods in families of father, mother, and son. 
At On the priesthood had, before the end of the Old 
Kingdom, taken another step and formed a group of 
nine affiliated gods, called by the Greeks an ennead. 
The scheme of this ennead was as follows: 

Atum-Re 



Shu r- ^Tefnut 



Geb '■ ^Nut 



Osiris-Isis Set-Nephthys 

This ennead was imitated all over Egypt, but ancient 
conceptions were too deeply ingrained and the gods 
were too numerous to permit the movement toward a 
unitary conception to make much progress. 

In the tomb of Unis, the last king of the Fifth 
Dynasty, and in the tombs of the kings of the Sixth 

* See Breasted, History of Egypt, 2d ed., p. 55. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 43 

Dynasty, religious texts were inscribed. These texts 
are the oldest Kterary remains which we have from 
Egypt. They consist of sentences which depict in 
various forms the fortunes of the king after death. 
These fortunes are described in the terms of fortimes 
of the god Osiris.^ It is assumed that the king wiU 
become an Osiris. Osiris was a vegetation god (origi- 
nally a palm-tree god?) like the Semitic Tammuz. 
Like Tammuz he had a mother, Isis. As Ishtar later 
became the wife of Tammuz, so Isis became the wife of 
Osiris. As a god of vegetation Osiris, like Tammuz, 
died, and Isis, like Ishtar, mourned for him. The myth, 
as time passed, took on many features, but the feature 
of importance here is that Osiris rose from the dead, 
and before the pyramid texts were written it was 
supposed that he was translated after the resurrec- 
tion to a place in the sky along with the sun 
and other heavenly bodies. Ordinarily the dead 
were supposed to pass a miserable existence in an 
underworld, but the king, as a god, was to escape from 
this and, like Osiris, to be translated to a heavenly 
paradise. 

The paradise portrayed in these texts was of a 
peculiarly material sort. Although at times the king 
is represented as soaring through the heavens like the 
god Re; his paradise has a tree of Ufe growing in its 
midst, from which at times the king feeds. This tree 
of life is probably a survival from the date palm of the 
primitive North African and Arabian desert, which 
furnished to both Semites and Hamites their conception 

^ See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
Egypt, Lecture V. 



44 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of the tree of life/ But the king is not always confined 
to this. Upon his arrival in paradise he was thought 
to be an infant in the heavenly realm, so the sky-goddess 
extended to him her breasts to suckle him.^ Later he 
was provided with a feast which consisted of viands 
such as men were fond of on earth — a thousand of 
bread, a thousand of beer, a thousand of oxen, a thousand 
of geese, a thousand of everything whereon the god 
lives.3 He was also provided with a mistress, and is 
described as the man who takes women from their 
husbands whither he wills, and when his heart"* desires. 
He is even represented as pursuing those cannibal 
practices which the savage Egyptians of an earlier 
time had employed, by which they hoped to absorb the 
brave qualities of their enemies. He is said to eat 
other gods, so as to swallow the knowledge and power 
of every god.^ 

50. The Middle Kingdom. — Strictly speaking, the 
Middle Kingdom comprises the Eleventh and Twelfth 
dynasties, 2 160-1792 B.C., but in classifying the stages 
of religious development it may be said to begin with 
the fall of the Sixth Dynasty in 2475 B.C. From the 
accession of the Fifth Dynasty onward the tendency of 
social evolution was away from the absolutism that had 
culminated in the power of the pyramid-builders. The 
organization of the Sixth Dynasty was thoroughly 
feudal, and upon its fall Egypt appears for a time to 

^ Barton, Semitic Origins, pp. 88-96. 

' Breasted, op cit., p. 130. 

^ Ibid., p. 132. 

^Ihid., p. 177. 

s See quotation at the beginning of this chapter. , 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 45 

have fallen into its original parts. The later organization 
of society under Dynasties IX, X, XI, and XII was 
thoroughly feudal, and this change left its mark upon 
the religious conceptions of the time. 

With the accession of the Eleventh D)niasty the 
nome of Thebes became the dominant nome in Egypt, a 
position which it held for more than a thousand years. 
This gave to Amon, the god of that nome, a position of 
reverence in all parts of Egypt similar to that attained 
at an earlier time by Osiris, Ptah, and Re, though none 
of the others ever attained the popularity of Osiris. 

The most striking religious development of the 
Middle Kingdom was the emergence into prominence 
of the common man. A series of writings from this 
period shows the development of a sensitive social con- 
science and of an advanced system of ethics. The social 
conscience appears in such compositions as the popu- 
lar story of the ''Eloquent Peasant,"^ in which the 
grievances and rights of a poor man are so effectively 
set forth that a noble and a king do justice to him, and 
in the admonitions of a sage, Ipuwer, who mourns the 
unjust social conditions of his age, and, in the opinion 
of some, refers to an ideal king, a kind of Messiah, who 
was to come.^ Of a similar social nature is a work 

' Students who read German should consult F. Vogelsang and 
Alan H. Gardiner, Die Klagen des Bauern (Leipzig, 1908), which contains 
the best translation of it into a modern language. Those who do not 
should consult Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
E-gypt, pp. 217 fif.; G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, Part II, 
chap, xxiv; or Petrie, Egyptian Tales, First Series, pp. 61 ff. 

' See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
^ZyPf'j PP- 203 ff., especially p. 212, note. The whole work is trans- 
lated in Alan H. Gardiner's Admonitions of ati Egyptian Sage (Leipzig, 
1909). 



46 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

embodying instructions to a vizier/ The ethical ideals 
of the time are set forth in the Wisdom of Ptahhotep, 
who gave instruction that in many respects reminds one 
of the Book of Proverbs.^ 

The age was one of reflection. The glad childhood 
of Egypt had passed. Skepticism and misanthropy had 
begun to prevail in some circles as ''The Dialogue of a 
Misanthrope with His Own Soul" proves.^ Another 
testimony to the importance now attached to the 
common people is shown in the changed conceptions of 
the life after death. In the old kingdom it was only 
the kings who ascended to heaven like Osiris; now it 
was thought to be the destiny of the common man as 
well.4 

51. The Early Empire period, 1580-1375 B.C. — In 
the period between the Middle Kingdom and the 
Empire, Egypt was subject for a hundred years to con- 
querors from Asia, commonly known as the Hyksos. 
The effort to expel these, and so to conquer Asia as to 
keep them out of Egypt, led to the building up of the 
Empire. In this struggle the local nobility, who had 
for several hundred years restrained the power of the 
king, were killed off, and the king emerged with 
power as absolute as of old. Nevertheless the literary 
products of the earlier period, in which the social con- 
science of that time found expression, were read and 

^ See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
Egypt, pp. 240-43. 

2 Breasted, ibid., pp. 227-37; and Barton, Archaeology and the 
Bible, Part II, chap. xxii. 

3 Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, 
pp. 188-98. 

* Breasted, ibid., Lecture VIII. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 47 

treasured. The victories of the kings in Asia tended to 
increase the glory of Amon, god of Thebes. Beginning 
with Thothmes III large quantities of booty were con- 
tributed to his temple. This increased the weatlh and 
importance of his priesthood. Indeed Thothmes III 
had been a member of the priesthood of Amon before 
he came to the throne and had secured the throne 
through a coup planned and executed by that priest- 
hood. He accordingly paid his political debts by 
making the high priest of Amon primate of Egypt — a 
step which resulted in long making Thebes the rehgious 
capital of the country. The new imperial power was 
accompanied by a new tendency toward a unitary con- 
ception of the universe. In the reign of Amenophis III 
two brothers, architects, inscribed in a tomb a hymn to 
Amon as the sun-god, that speaks of him as the only 
lord of the world. He is called: 

Sole lord taking captive all lands every day, 



When he enfolds them 

Every land is in rejoicing 

At his rising every day, in order to praise him.^ 

52. The reform of Ikhnaton, 1375-1350 B.C. — This 
monotheistic tendency culminated in the reign of 
Amenophis IV, who preferred to be called Ikhnaton, or 
"Spirit of Aton." This king was a religious enthusiast 
rather than a poHtician. He looked about for some 
deity that alone could be worshiped. The time had not 
come in the development of the human mind when men 
could get away from material things and think of a 

^ See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
Egypt, pp. 315 ff., for the entire hymn. 



48 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

really spiritual deity. Ikhnaton accordingly selected 
the sun disk as his one god. Amon, as we have just 
seen, was identified with the sun, but the name of 
Amon was really bound up with the old polytheism. 
Re of On was also a sun-deity who had long been wor- 
shiped throughout Egypt, but Ikhnaton felt the same 
objection to him. He selected a different name, Aton, 
for his god, and employed all his imperial power to 
compel men to worship him. The priesthoods of the 
old cults were, however, strong, and the priests of 
Amon at Thebes so thwarted the king's power that he 
soon left Thebes and founded a new city as his capital. 
This city was about midway between Thebes and 
Memphis on the site of the modern Tell-el-Amarna. 
The new city was called Akhetaton, or '* Horizon of 
Aton.'' Here a temple to Aton was constructed and the 
whole city given over to his worship, and here the king 
composed hymns to Aton, the one god, some of the 
strams of which remind one of the Hebrew Psalter.* 
Ikhnaton used his regal power to extend the worship of 
Aton and the new monotheism. Temples of this deity 
were planted in distant Nubia and elsewhere. So 
absorbed was Ikhnaton in this work that he permitted 
the dominions of Egypt in Asia to fall into a state of 
anarchy and ultimately to become separated from 
Egypt. Egypt was not prepared for such a reform as 
Ikhnaton 's, and one of the early successors of Ikhnaton 
was compelled to abandon it, return the royal resi- 
dence to Thebes, and restore the god Amon to his 
old place. 

* See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
Egypty pp. 324 ff. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 49 

53. The Later Empire period, 1350-1167 B.C. — ^A 

reform that fails leaves matters in worse condition than 
before, and after Ikhnaton the religion of Egypt as a 
whole settled down to a repetition of ancient ceremonies 
and the acceptance of old ideas. In the inscriptions 
from the tombs of Thebes, where the common people 
now received such burial as had formerly been accorded 
to kings, and where they died in hope of a resurrection 
like that of Osiris, we can trace for a century or two a 
development of marked personal piety.' Under Seti I 
and Ramses II the Asiatic empire was renewed, and 
before the end of this period contact with Asia led to the 
introduction here and there of Asiatic deities, such as 
Baal, Resheph, Anath, and Ashtart. These foreign 
cults, however, made no deep impression upon the 
rehgion of Egypt as a whole. 

54. Period of decadence and foreign control, 1167- 
31 B.C. — The centuries that followed the Empire were 
centuries of decadence. Various changes occurred, but 
they could hardly be called advances. In this period 
great attention was given to old and obscure forms. 
Care was taken to preserve the bodies of the sacred 
animals. We hear of tombs for the Apis bulls at Mem- 
phis as early as the Eighteenth Dynasty, but in the Per- 
sian and Hellenic periods extensive cemeteries of other 
sacred animals were supported. The Serapeum at 
Memphis contained the mummies of more than sixty 
bulls, the last one found having been buried after 100 
B.C. Similar cemeteries for bulls existed at On and 
Hermonthis, for rams at Mendes, for cats at Bubastis 
and Beni Hasan, for crocodiles at Lake Moeris, for 

* See Breasted, ibid., Lecture X. 



50 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

falcons at Buto, and for ibises at Eshmunen. Such 
numbers of mummified cats have been found at Beni 
Hasan that modern enterprise has employed them as 
fertilizer! 

At the beginning of this period we learn from the 
Papyrus Harris that about one person in every fifty in 
Egypt was a slave to some temple. In other words, the 
temples owned about 2 per cent of the population. They 
also owned about 14J per cent of the cultivatable land 
of the country, and enormous flocks and herds and 
treasure in proportion.' By far the larger share of 
these vast possessions was in the hands of the priest- 
hood of Amon. The immense power thus acquired by 
this priesthood led before the end of the Twentieth 
D)masty to an assumption of authority on the part of 
the high priest of Amon almost equal to that of the king, 
and at the beginning of the Twenty-first Dynasty the 
high priest Hrihor seized the crown. 

During the reigns that followed the king usually 
resided at Tanis in the Delta, and the high priest was a 
son or brother of the monarch and viceroy of the southern 
third of Egypt. Under the Nubian kings of the Twenty- 
fifth Dynasty the sisters and daughters of the monarchs 
filled this office. Apparently these kings thought that 
the best means of controlHng the powerful priesthood of 
Thebes was to have a woman at its head ! 

From 663 to 525 B.C., after three centuries of control 
by foreign dynasties, Egypt once more enjoyed the rule 
of native kings. This period was accompanied by a 
great revival of national feeling, but in religion it was 
not a creative period. The ceremonies and texts of 

* See Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 491- 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 51 

the Old Kingdom were revived, assiduously studied, 
and an attempt was made to galvanize them into life, 
but it was not a reKgious revival in the deeper sense of 
the word. Under the Hellenic kings after 306 B.C. the 
god Osiris as Osiris-Apis or Serapis triumphed over the 
solar gods Re and Amon and became the most popular 
deity of Egypt. This position he retained until over- 
whelmed by Christianity. Isis also received in this 
period a greater degree of adoration than ever, and in 
Roman times became the center of a cult practiced by 
many non-Egyptians. 

55. Priesthood and cult. — The priesthood of the 
Egyptian temples was, as in other countries, gradually 
evolved from the chieftains and medicine men of the 
earlier time. The stages of the evolution are involved 
in obscurity. As finally organized the priesthoods con- 
sisted of various classes of priests, prophets, etc., to 
whom different duties were assigned. These derived 
their whole Kving from the temple and its revenues. 
They were subject to many minute rules of ceremonial 
purity, which prescribed how they should bathe, shave, 
dress, and what they should eat. To some were assigned 
the duties of awakening the god, making his toilet, and 
feeding him. Greek writers tell of festivals at which 
priests acted out the myths of the gods. At some 
of the temples (probably at all) schools existed for 
the instruction of candidates for the priesthood in 
the mysteries of their work and the culture of their 
time. 

56. Sacrifice." — ^In the earliest times the sacrifices 
consisted mainly of gazelles, antelopes, and wild goats, the 
flesh of which was most often employed by men as food. 



52 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The meat was offered partly raw and partly cooked/ 
When cooked, it was brought forward on metal braziers. 
Probably the use of fire is of later development than the 
uncooked offering. Herodotus bears witness to the 
continuance of the burnt offerings down to the fifth 
century B.C. According to him the head of the victim 
was cut off and imprecations were pronounced over it, 
after which it was thrown into the river or sold to 
Greeks. The ritual in other respects varied in different 
places, but the sacrifice to one of the principal goddesses 
consisted, he says, of bullocks. These were flayed, the 
intestines removed, though the vitals and fat were left 
in the body. The priests then cut off the legs, the 
extremity of the hips, the shoulders, and neck, after 
which they filled the trunk with fine bread, honey, 
raisins, figs, incense, myrrh, and other perfumes. 
Having poured oil over the whole, they burned it.* 

Apart from such offerings the priests prepared for 
the gods at meal-time food consisting of bread, meat, 
cakes, and pastry .^ At their festivals great quantities 
of food and wine were also consumed.'* 

57. Magic. — As in other ancient countries magic 
developed in Eg3^t at an early date. It appears to 
have been fairly well advanced by the time of the Old 
Kingdom. As in Babylonia it attached itself to the 
cure of disease. In later time it connected itself with 
the burial of the dead, and magic formulae, often 
sentences from the book of the dead, were written on 

^ See Erman, Aegyptische Religion, 2te Aufl. (Berlin, 1909), 
pp.SSff. 

' Herodotus ii. 39. 
Erman, op. cit., pp. 60 S. < Herodotus ii. 60. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 53 

the inside of the coflSms in order to ward off from the 
departed evil spirits which would block their way. 
When these became too numerous for the inside of the 
coffin, they were inscribed on rolls of papyrus. Such 
superstitions hindered the best development of religion, 
and Ikhnaton prohibited them during his reign. After 
him they were again revived.^ 

58. The ka and the soul. — ^According to Egyptian 
belief each person possessed a ka given to him by a god 
at his birth. As long as he was master of this ka he 
lived. The ka was invisible, but it was assumed to have 
an appearance exactly like the body in which it dwelt. 
At death the ka left the body, but it was hoped that it 
would occasionally visit and reanimate the form in 
which it had dwelt so long. It was for the ka that food 
was so carefully placed in the tomb, and that such care 
was taken to preserve the body.^ Besides the ka each 
person was thought to have a hai or soul, which could 
be seen, and which also left the body at death. This 
was often conceived to exist in the form of a bird, and it 
was thought that, while the mourners were lamenting 
the departed, he might be sitting among the birds of a 
neighboring tree watching them. This conception con- 
tinued into Christian times, for in Christian cemeteries 
in Nubia the souls of the departed in the form of stone 
birds are foimd perched on the gravestones. 

59. Life after death. — Interest in the life after death 
was developed among the Egyptians to a higher degree 

^ See Breasted, History of Egypt ^ pp. loi ff., 175, 249 ff., 369 ff., 390, 
459, and 498. 

' Professor Breasted thinks the ka simply awaited a man in the 
hereafter- Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 52. 



54 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

than among any other ancient people. Probably it is 
in part due to the development of their civilization at a 
time so early that the mind of man could not dis- 
entangle its thoughts from the physical that the preser- 
vation of the body was considered essential to the life 
after death. Every effort was accordingly made to 
preserve the body, and the art of mummification was 
evolved. As to the life after death itself, it is probable 
that at the beginning different conceptions prevailed in 
different parts of Egypt. At the beginning, however, 
all Egyptians thought of the dead as having an earthly 
abode. As time passed this abode was, in the thought 
of many, through the influence of the Osiris-myths, 
transferred to the sky. Side by side with this last 
conception some of the older ones survived. The hfe of 
the departed was, according to the most widely accepted 
view, but a continuance of the life on earth. The child 
remained a child and the old man remained an old man. 
The same social organization existed, and the same joys 
and physical needs of food. In the earliest time the 
dwelling-place of the dead was supposed to be the sands 
of the desert, generally to the west of the cities, where 
the cemeteries were situated.' According to another 
conception, which apparently originated in some par- 
ticular part of Egypt, the dead hved in a lower world, 
which, like Egypt, was a narrow land bounded by 
deserts through which a river flowed. This land was 
dark by day, but was visited by the sun at night .^ 
The conception that the dead were taken up to 

' See Steindorf, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York, 1905), 
pp. 1 16-19. 

' Steindorf, ibid.^ pp. 126 ff. 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 55 

heaven became the popular one in later times. The 
earliest literary witnesses to it are the p5n:amid texts, 
where its blessings are confined to kings. As in later 
time it became more democratic, other expressions of 
faith in it were committed to writing, sometimes on 
coffins, sometimes on papyri. In the Empire period 
and the revival of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty efforts 
were made to collect these, but no collection embraces 
them all. This body of literature is known as the Book 
of the Dead.' While it is mainly devoted to the Osirian 
conception of the hereafter, older views also often find 
expression. It is a confused and repetitious mass of 
material, but is a powerful witness to the ancient 
Egyptian yearning for immortality. 

60. Myths. — The Egyptians appear to have had a 
considerable number of myths about their gods. There 
are in the Book of the Dead and other religious texts 
many allusions to such myths. Comparatively few of 
these have survived. The most popular of those 
which we know was the myth of the death and resur- 
rection of Osiris, which played such an important part 
in the development of the conception of the hereafter, 
and of which some description has already been given.^ 
Another popular m3rth told how the goddess Isis learned 
the secret name of Re. This myth seems to have 
circulated among magicians. Still another told how, 
when Re had grown old and feeble, his authority was 
despised. Men conspired against him as they might 
against an old Pharaoh who had outlived his vigor. Re 

^ See E. A. W. Budge, The Book of the Dead, II (London, 1898). 
This volume contains a translation of the various texts. Vol. I is 
occupied with the Egyptian text, and Vol. Ill with an Egyptian glossary. 

' See above, sec. 50. 



56 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

in anger sent the fierce lion-headed goddess Sekhmet to 
devour them, and she executed her task so well that 
mankind was in danger of complete destruction. The 
problem then became how to induce the goddess, who 
had once tasted blood, to desist. This Re accomphshed 
by making seven thousand jars of beer look like blood, 
so that the goddess drank herself drunk on these, and 
the remnant of the human race escaped. Egypt had no 
story of the flood. The overflow of the Nile was there 
not an evil, but the greatest blessing. 

6i. Ethics. — The thought of the Egyptian people. 
though in some domains always of a pecuHarly elemen- 
tary character, achieved its greatest triumphs in the 
realm of ethics. Civilization developed at too early a 
date to permit the acceptance of an advanced system of 
religious thought. To the end animal-worship, together 
with a confused mass of gods and myths about the 
hereafter, perpetuated certain primitive conceptions. 
The realm of religious theory was in Egypt always 
occupied by a chaos of contradictory views. The 
Egyptians, like the Babylonians and Chinese, were an 
exceedingly practical people. They worked out for 
the human race, as did the Babylonians, many of the 
initial problems of civilization. In ethical thought, 
too, they did yeoman service. The precepts of Ptah- 
hotep and the admonitions of Ipuwer take high rank. 
Ptahhotep's precepts are, like the biblical Book of 
Proverbs, eminently practical, but they also betray 
deep insight into human nature and the exigencies of 
practical life. The expressions of a social conscience 
which come from the Middle Kingdom are also evidence 
of advanced ethical thought. No doubt practice lagged 



THE RELIGION OF EGYPT 57 

behind theory, but it is to Egypt's credit that her sages 
were able to formulate such lofty theories of conduct. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On Egj^tian history: cf . Barton, Archaeology and the Bible j chap, 
i; or better, Breasted, A History of the Ancient Egyptians 
(New York, 1908); or better stUl, Breasted, History of Egypt j 
2d ed. (New York, 1909). 

On sees. 47, 48: cf. Barton, "Tammuz and Osiris," Journal of 
the American Oriental Society, XXXV, 213-23; and Breasted, 
History of Egypt, 2d ed., chap, iii, or Development of Religion 
and Thought in Ancient Egypt, Lecture I. 

On sec. 49: cf. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought 
in Ancient Egypt (New York, 191 2), Lectures II-V. 

On sec. 50: cf. Breasted, op. cit.. Lecture VIII. 

On sees. 51-54: cf. Breasted, ihid.. Lectures IX and X. 

On sec. 55: cf. Herodotus, Book ii. 37; and Breasted, History 
of Egypt, 2d ed., pp. 62-63, 171, 241, 247, 249 ff., 272, 362, 
401-3, 475, 489-97, 506 ff., 520-28, 574-96. 

On sec. 56: cf. Herodotus, Book ii. 39-41; and Erman, Hand- 
hook of Egyptian Religion, 1907, chap. vi. 

On sec. 58: cf. Steindorf, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 
106-13. 

On sec. 59: cf. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought 
in Ancient Egypt, Lectures II-VIII; and E. A. W. Budge, 
The Book of the Decui, II, passim; also Steindorf, Religion of 
the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 114-37. 

On sec. 59: cf. D. A. Mackenzie, The Myths of Egypt (London, 
1 9 14), passim; and Petrie, Religion and Conscience in Ancient 
Egypt, Lecture IV. 

On sec. 60: cf. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought 
in Ancient Egypt, Lectures VI and VII; and Petrie, Religion 
and Conscience in Ancient Egypt, Lecture VI. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions (New York, 1913), chaps, viii 
and ix. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 

Yahweh is a man of war: 
Yahweh is his name. 

— Exod. 15:3. 

I Yahweh thy God am a jealous God. 

— Exod. 20:5. 

Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God is one Yahweh. 

— ^Deut. 5:4. 

When Israel was a child, then I loved him. 
And called my son out of Egypt. 

— Hos. 11: 1. 

But he was wounded for our transgressions, 
He was bruised for our iniquities. 
The chastisement of our peace was upon him; 
And with his stripes we are healed. 

— Isa. 53:5. 

62. The land. — Palestine consists of a strip of fer- 
tility, varying in width from 70 to 125 miles, between 
the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert. The 
fertility is caused by the rain from moisture-laden clouds 
which are driven in from the Mediterranean during 
the winter months, and extends eastward until the 
moisture of the clouds is exhausted. This strip of land 
formed in ancient times a bridge of fertility between the 
Nile and the Mesopotamian valleys. The whole country 
is about the size of the states of Rhode Island and Con- 

s8 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 59 

necticut. On the west is the maritime plain, bordered 
on its southeastern part by the Shephelah or low hills; 
east of this is the central range of Palestinian hills, cleft 
in parts by many deep valleys, the chief of which is the 
great valley of Esdraelon or Jezreel; east of this again 
is the Jordan Valley, in many respects the most remark- 
able valley in the world. From the Huleh southward 
it is altogether below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, 
and at the Dead Sea reaches a depression of about 1,300 
feet. East of this is a great tableland which rises, in 
parts, to a height of 3,500 feet above sea-level. At its 
northern extremity Moimt Hermon rises 9,166 feet, 
and from November to July or August is capped with 
snow. In no other part of the earth's surface is such 
a variety of flora and fauna f oimd within such narrow 
limits. The land and its cHmate no doubt played some 
part in the birth of that rehgion which has so influenced 
the world for good.^ 

63. Value of the patriarchal narratives. — The his- 
torical study of the early books of the Bible has shown 
that they were written much later than was formerly 
supposed, and that the traditions of the Hebrew patri- 
archs collected in the Book of Genesis consist largely of 
traditions of later tribal history, which are in some cases 
attached to the names of tribes represented as persons, 
and in some cases to immigrants from Babylonia whose 
names had been attached to localities in which the 
Hebrew tribes settled.^ 

^ For a fuller statement, see George Adam Smith, Historical Geog- 
raphy of the Holy Land, pp. 43-61. 

* For a more extensive discussion of these narratives, see G. A. 
Barton, in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LII, 
185-200, or The Religion of Israel (in press), chap. ii. 



6o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

64. The formation of the Hebrew nation. — ^The 
traditions indicate that the Hebrew nation is composed 
of four groups of tribes, which are said to be descended 
from four mothers. Of these groups the most important 
are the Leah tribes and the Rachel tribes. Leah means 
''wild cow" and Rachel, "ewe." Opinions differ as 
to whether these were totems or economic symbols or 
both. The Rachel tribes may have been sheep-raisers 
and the Leah tribes cattle-raisers. There is consider- 
able evidence, both archaeological and biblical, to show 
that the Leah tribes entered Palestine and secured a 
footing there about 13 7 5-13 50 B.C., and that the Rachel 
tribes did not enter the country until 1200 B.C. or 
later. The evidence indicates that the Leah tribes 
entered the land from the south, the Rachel tribes 
from the east. The probability is that the Rachel 
tribes only were in Egypt, that it was they who were 
led out by Moses, and that it was with them that the 
covenant was made at the burning mountain called 
Horeb.' 

65. The early religion. — ^Analogy makes it probable 
that the religion of these tribes before they entered 
Palestine did not differ materially from that of other 
nomadic tribes about them. Since the primitive 
Semitic pillars and asheras (or wooden posts), circum- 
cision, the her em or ban, and law of blood-revenge were 
perpetuated by them into much later times, it is probable 
that in other respects their religion was similar to that 
of other nomadic Semites. Each tribe may have had its 

* For full discussion of the evidence, see L. B. Paton, Biblical World, 
XL VI, 82-88, 173-80; also Journal of Biblical Literature,XXXlI, 1-54; 
and G. A. Barton, Religion of Israel, chap. iii. 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 6i 

deity; at least we hear of a god Gad' (Isa. 65:11) which 
was probably originally the god of the tribe Gad, and 
there is reason to believe that the tribe of Asher wor- 
shiped the goddess Ashera. In the tribe of Judah some 
Kenites settled. The Kenite god was Yahweh (Jehovah) , 
and the J document written in Judah reflects the belief 
that the worship of Yahweh went back to the earhest 
times (Gen. 4:26). We cannot now determine the date 
of this fusion. It is possible that it began before the 
settlement of the Leah tribes in Palestine. 

66. Yahweh before Moses. — ^A theory that has in 
recent years won the assent of the majority of the writers 
on the religion of Israel is that Yahweh was the god of 
the Midianite-Kenites before he became the God of 
Israel. This tribe was nomadic and wandered from the 
borders of Egypt as far eastward as the volcanic lands 
to the north of Medina, in Arabia. Their god, like 
most Semitic gods, was a god of fertihty. The epithet 
Yahweh, by which he was called, probably meant '*he 
who causes passionate love." They attributed all 
activity to him. Volcanic eruptions were his appear- 
ance on the burning mountain, the showers of the 
peninsula of Sinai were given by him, their victories 
over their enemies were won by him. There are indi- 
cations that Yahweh may have been a divine name in 
North Arabia for a thousand years before Moses, and 
that emigrants from this region to Babylonia and 
Palestine had carried the name to those countries.^ 

^ Rendered "Fortune" in the Revised Version. 

' For a fuller discussion of this point, see G. A. Barton, "Yahweh 
before Moses," Studies in the History of Religion Presented to Crawford 
Howell Toy by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends (New York, 1Q12), 
pp. 187-204. 



62 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Possibly some of the Leah tribes other than Judah had 
learned before they came to Palestine to apply this 
epithet to their god, but of this we have no definite 
information. 

67. The work of Moses. — Moses, fleeing from Egypt, 
married the daughter of Jethro, Yahweh's priest among 
the Midianite-Kenites. At the burning bush on Yah- 
weh's volcanic mountain he was so impressed with the 
power and majesty of Yahweh that it marked an epoch 
in his life. He returned to Egypt to preach to his 
enslaved kinsmen the hope of escape through the power 
of Yahweh, The escape was eJBfected, and at the burn- 
ing mountain the Rachel tribes entered into covenant 
with Yahweh to make him their God and to serve 
him (see Exod., chaps. 1-24). At the first sacrifice 
offered after the Hebrews reached Yahweh's moun- 
tain Jethro officiated (Exod. 18:1-12); but later 
the covenant was consimunated at a sacrificial feast at 
which Moses and Aaron officiated (Exod. 24:1-11). 
The E document holds that the name "Yahweh" 
first became known to Israel at this time (Exod. 
3:1-14), and this is probably true for the Rachel 
tribes. 

A box or ark, which could be easily carried from 
place to place, and which, perhaps, contained a sacred 
stone, became the symbol of Yahweh's presence with 
them. The sum of his requirements of his new wor- 
shipers, as nearly as we can now ascertain them, con- 
sisted of ten commands which could be easily numbered 
off on the fingers and remembered. They are now 
embedded in Exod., chap. 34, where later agricultural 
regulations have in two or three instances overlaid their 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 63 

originally nomadic character. They appear to have 
been the following: 

1. Thou shalt worship no other god. 

2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 

3. The feast of the Passover thou shalt keep. 

4. The firsthng of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; all 
the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. 

5. None shall appear before me empty. 

6. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh thou shalt 
rest. 

7. Thou shalt observe the feast of ingathering [of dates]. 

8. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened 
bread, neither shall the sacrifice of the Passover remain until the 
morning. 

9. The firstlings of thy flocks thou shalt bring unto Yahweh, 
thy God. 

10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. 

There is much reason to beheve that these commands 
were not written down, but were committed to tradition. 
This fact made it easier for later prophets to reinterpret 
the covenant and to make its basis ethical. In the 
fact of the covenant, the possibility of such ethical 
reinterpretation, and the belief in Yahweh's intolerance 
of other gods lay the germs of future progress. 

68. Yahweh an agricultural God. — The entrance of 
the Rachel tribes into Palestine led to their union with the 
other tribes of Israel. Yahweh was already known to 
some of these, and by silent processes of assimilation 
which are now obscure to us he was accepted more or 
less definitely by all the tribes as their God. The 
political and religious life of the early time was in no 
sense organized. Until the time of Saul and David 
there was no national consciousness. In the early days 



64 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

there was no organized priesthood (cf. Judg., chaps. 
17, 1 8). In the union of the tribes the vivid memories 
which the Rachel tribes entertained of their experiences 
triumphed over all other traditions of Yahweh. Spread 
by the omnipresent oriental story-teller, they were so 
much more vivid than the tamer experiences of the 
other tribes that in time they became the common 
inheritance of all. 

When Palestine was conquered the shrines of the 
agricultural gods were taken over and became shrines 
of Yahweh. This happened at Schechem, Bethel, 
Hebron, Gezer, and at many other places. Stories of 
how it occurred at Dan and Jerusalem have survived in 
the Bible (Judg., chaps. 17, 18; II Sam., chap. 24). 
The stories which at these shrines were told of the old 
gods were now told of Yahweh. Yahweh was now 
believed to send the rain and to give the crops. The 
old gods had been called baals, i.e., owners of the soil, 
and in time the name was applied to Yahweh also (see 
Hos. 2:16). To Yahweh's feasts new agricultural 
feasts were added, and agricultural elements were intro- 
duced into the old ones. The sensual orgies of Semitic 
religion became more reprehensible when practiced by 
a wealthy population. These orgies as they had been 
practiced by the Canaanites were taken over into 
Yahweh's religion. 

During all this time the orthodox type of sanctuary 
for Yahweh was a high place open to the sky. We hear 
of one small temple at Shiloh (I Sam., chaps. 1-5), with 
doors and apparently a roof — a temple in the holiest 
place of which Samuel slept! The open-air high place 
was nevertheless the normal type of sanctuary. Solo- 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 65 

mon's temple was an innovation. It was constructed 
on the general plan of the temples of Israel's more 
civilized neighbors. It contained an altar of bronze, 
whereas an altar of earth or unhewn stone was regarded 
long after this as the only proper altar (Exod. 20: 24-26). 
Centuries later the temple of Solomon was revered as 
the ideal dwelling-place of Yahweh, but for a consider- 
able time it was thought to be of a heretical type. 

69. Elijah and after. — In the reign of Ahab there 
began a religious and social ferment which led to the 
transformation of Israel's religion. Ahab's Tyrian 
wife, Jezebel, had brought with her the worship of the 
Tyrian god Melkart. She and her husband in the 
case of Naboth (I Kings, chap. 21) outraged Hebrew 
popular rights. At this juncture Elijah came from 
Gilead, proclaiming the old nomadic ideal of Yahweh 
and linking his religious ideals to the rights of the 
people as against the king. To Elijah and his followers, 
not only was the worship of the Tyrian Melkart wrong, 
but the worship of the agriculturized Yahweh of the 
west Jordan lands was little better. It was, he thought, 
also the worship of Baal. In the person and work of 
the prophet Elisha the ideals of Ehjah, though some- 
what obscured, were to some degree cherished. In the 
circles of Elijah's disciples stress was laid on ethics 
rather than upon ritual as the essence of Yahweh's 
covenant with his people. 

It is not surprising, accordingly, that in the E docu- 
ment, written in the Northern Kingdom, where the 
ministry of these prophets was spent, ethical require- 
ments were substituted for the ritualistic requirements 
in the ten "words" or commands, which were supposed 



66 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

to sum up what Yahweh required of his people when he 
made his cx)venant with them. This substitution was 
the easier because at the beginning the commands had 
not been written, but coromitted to oral tradition. 
Such substitution involved no conscious fraud. It was 
but an expression of the feeling we all have that, if 
properly transmitted, the fundamental religious docu- 
ment of our faith must teach the highest religion and 
ethics of which we know. The ethical decalogue which 
resulted was as follows: 

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image. 

3. Thou shalt not lift up the name of Yahweh to a vanity 
[i.e., thou shalt not swear to a lie]. 

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 

5. Honor thy father and thy mother. 

6. Thou shalt do no murder. 

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

8. Thou shalt not steal. 

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. 

This decalogue sums up the rehgious advance which 
Elijah and his followers had achieved, though some of 
the commands clearly go back to the early days. It is 
tempting to think that the commands against coveting, 
swearing to a lie, and bearing false witness were sug- 
gested by the experience of Naboth. It should be 
noted that Israel was not yet in theory monotheistic. 
The first of these commands presupposes the reaHty of 
the existence of other gods. 

70. The eighth-century prophets. — The insight of 
four great men, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, who 
lived and preached between 755 and 690 B.C., carried 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 67 

the work begun by Elijah to much higher levels. While 
they presented no philosophical theory of monotheism, 
each one of them was a practical monotheist. They 
assumed that Yahweh controlled all nations. Amos 
was the first to proclaim this (Amos 9:7), and it became 
an axiom with the others. Their monotheism was one- 
sided in its Conception of Yahweh 's attitude toward 
the world. They thought him chiefly interested in 
Israel, and as dealing with the other nations as such 
dealing was necessary for the discipline of Israel. They 
all represented Yahweh as a God whose one desire was 
his passion for social justice. His chief demand was 
righteousness between man and man. In their earKer 
ministry they maintained that this was the sum-total 
of his religion. They declared that he demanded no 
sacrifices; that he was disgusted with ritual (Amos 5: 
21, 25; Isa. 1:12-14); that the essence of his religion 
was that "justice roll down as waters and righteousness 
as an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24). Amos held 
out as a motive for righteousness only the fear of pun- 
ishment. Hosea, the first prophet of the love of Yahweh, 
urged as a motive his great love. Hosea interpreted the 
covenant at Horeb as a marriage contract. Yahweh 
had chosen Israel as his bride, and her faithlessness 
was base ingratitude to him and deeply grieved his 
heart. 

71. Beginning of the messianic hope. — Isaiah was, 
in the opinion of the writer, the first prophet of the 
messianic hope. There has been a tendency in the last 
thirty years to beheve that all messianic prophecy was 
written after the exile. Against this view the writer 
has elsewhere protested. There is no adequate reason 



68 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

for den3dng to Isaiah the authorship of the two oracles 
in Isa. 9:2-6 and 11:1-9/ The first of these visions 
dates from the S3n:o-Ephraimitish war of 735 B.C., and 
represents the ideals of a young man whose blood is hot. 
He looked for a king to come who should surpass in all 
kingly qualities Tiglath-pileser IV of Assyria. He 
was to be 

a wonder-counselor, 
a god of a warrior, 
a father of booty, 
a prince of peace. 

The vision recorded in Isa. 1 1 : 1-9 is a vision of his old 
age, dating from the time of Sennacherib's second inva- 
sion of Judah in 691 or after.^ In this vision the figure 
of the king fell into the background, and in imagery of 
unsurpassed beauty the prophet set forth the unsullied 
righteousness that should then prevail. Here is crys- 
talHzed the essence of the ethical teaching of the 
prophets of the eighth century. 

72. Isaiah's compromise with rituaL — Apparently 
in his old age Isaiah saw that the world was not ready 
for a religion without ritual and persuaded King Heze- 
kiah to try to reduce ritual to such limits that it could 
be purified of those agricultural and primitive elements 
which the prophets now identified with the worship of the 
Canaanitish Baals. Hezekiah accordingly attempted to 
suppress all the outdoor shrines of the land and to center 

^ For a more extended discussion, see G. A. Barton, Journal of 
Biblical Literature, XXXIII, 68-74; Religion of Israel (in press), 
chap. vi. 

' See the argument of Fullerton in Bihliotheca Sacra, LXIIl, 577- 
634; and Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, pp. 332-40. 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 69 

the worship in the temple at Jerusalem (II Kings 18: 
1-6 and 22). This movement naturally met with 
much opposition. 

73. Jerusalem the dwelling of Yahweh. — When 
Sennacherib came against Jerusalem the second time 
and all looked hopeless, Isaiah, in accordance with the 
principles of Hezekiah's reform, conceived Jerusalem 
to be necessary to the worship of Yahweh, and declared 
that Yahweh would protect it (Isa. 31:5). The army 
of Sennacherib was decimated by bubonic plague, which 
the people of Jerusalem believed to be inflicted by the 
angel of Yahweh (II Kings 19:36),' the Assyrian 
withdrew and Jerusalem was spared. This providential 
vindication of the prophet's word gave to Jerusalem 
a new significance in the minds of many Hebrews, and 
was the beginning of the belief that Yahweh dwelt on 
Zion rather than at Horeb. 

74. The writing of Deuteronomy. — Under King 
Manasseh, 686-641 e.g., there was a violent reaction 
against the prophetic reforms. The coimtry shrines 
were restored, and the people, led by their king, revived 
heathen Semitic customs that had been discarded. 
During this period, while the disciples of the great 
eighth-century prophets could do nothing openly, they 
cherished their ideals in secret and made plans for the 
future. In these circles about 650 B.C. the Deuter- 
onomic law was composed. Its basis was the "Book of 
the Covenant," Exod. 20:24 — 23:19, the legal kernel 
of the E document, but the law of the altar, Exod. 
20:24-26, was changed so as to limit the sanctuary to 

^ See G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 158 fif., 
or Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. One-volume ed., p. 403. 



70 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the "place which Yahweh should choose," and other fea- 
tures of the code, which presupposed a multiplicity of 
sanctuaries, were modified to conform to this. The 
striking deliverance from Sennacherib was held to show 
that Yahweh had chosen Jerusalem, and there was never 
a question that Jerusalem was the one place of worship. 
Some of the social features of the older code were soft- 
ened, so that the law as it appears in Deuteronomy 
embodies something of the social emphasis of the preach- 
ing of the eighth-century prophets. 

75. Josiah's reform. — Josiah, the grandson of Manas- 
seh, was friendly to the prophetic ideals, and by the 
eighteenth year of his reign the advocates of those ideals 
found a favorable opportunity to secure pubhc action. 
Repairs upon the temple were in progress, and it was 
so arranged that a copy of the Deuteronomic law was 
foimd while the temple was being cleared out. When 
it was read to the king, he appealed to the prophetess 
Huldah to know whether it was really the law of Moses. 
It corresponded with her conception of what religious 
law ought to be, so she declared it genuine. Thereupon 
Josiah undertook to reform the religion of his kingdom, 
so as to bring it into conformity to this law. The 
country shriaes were abolished, the cult was centralized 
in Jerusalem, while pillars, asheras, the ministers of 
social impurity, and other survivals of primitive Semitic 
religion were removed. The people of Judah did not 
acquiesce in this reform much more readUy than in the 
time of Hezekiah and Manasseh, and a long spiritual 
struggle ensued. 

76. Jeremiah. — About six years before the finding 
of the Deuteronomic law, Jeremiah, a very young man, 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 71 

began to prophesy, and his prophetic activity continued 
for forty years during the period of Judah's decline and 
fall. The form in which the Book of Jeremiah has come 
down to us is forbidding, so that few realize how great 
a prophet Jeremiah was. He contributed four great 
ideas to Israel's religion which became potent in after- 
time and which tended greatly to its purification and 
advancement. The first of these ideas was theoretical 
monotheism. Earlier prophets had been practical 
monotheists; it remained for Jeremiah to declare that 
the gods of the heathen were " vanities" — ^mere figments 
of the imagination (Jer. 10:15; 14:22). As a corollary 
of this conception he also taught that Yahweh was will- 
ing to become the God of the nations as well as of the 
Jews; that, if they were repentant, he would receive 
them Qer. 16:17-21). His third contribution was the 
doctrine of the inwardness of religion. The heart must 
be changed, not the outward life only (Jer. 31:31-34). 
To these great doctrines Jeremiah added that of indi- 
vidual responsibility (Jer. 31 : 29, 30). Down to his time 
the nation or family had been the moral unit (see Josh., 
chap. 7), but on that basis no great progress could be 
made in personal rehgion or in ethics. The teaching of 
Jeremiah set rehgion free from many time-worn shackles. 
In addition to these doctrines, Jeremiah revived 
Hosea's conception of the covenant of Yahweh, enfor- 
cing the view that it was a covenant of marriage and that 
Yahweh was a God of love. His view of the inward- 
ness of religion enabled him to declare, when invaders 
threatened Jerusalem, that its preservation was no 
longer necessary to the worship of Yahweh. For the 
time of Jeremiah that was true. The Deuteronomic 



72 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

law had supplied religion with a tangible form from 
which the temple could be temporarily omitted, and the 
teaching of Jeremiah had given it an inward significance, 
which for the more choice spirits made it independent 
of outward forms. 

77. Ezekiel, a young priest who had been taken to 
Babylonia with those first deported by Nebuchadrezzar 
in 597, began to prophesy five years later. His pro- 
phetic activity continued until about 570 B.C. Until 
the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Ezekiel in Babylonia 
reinforced the teaching which Jeremiah was giving in 
Palestine. He was animated by the same lofty ethical 
ideals, as is shown by the seventeenth and eighteenth 
chapters of his prophecy. In 586 B.C. Jerusalem was 
again captured by Nebuchadrezzar, the temple was 
destroyed, and another considerable number of the 
more prominent inhabitants were transported to Baby- 
lonia. The poorer peasantry were left behind to drag 
out their existence among the ruins. After this event 
Ezekiel, who was a priest as well as a prophet, in brood- 
ing over the fortunes of his people felt certain that at 
some time Yahweh would rehabilitate a Hebrew state 
in Palestine, and he drew up a form of organization and 
of law for the regulation of such a state and its wor- 
ship; see Ezek., chaps. 40-48. The plan outlined by 
Ezekiel advances a step farther than the law of Deu- 
teronomy in blending prophetic ideals with the ritua) 
law. Details are laid down for the measurements of 
temple and altar and for various details of the ritual. 
Ezekiel first called into existence a class of Levites as 
distinct from the priests. In Deuteronomy every 
Levite had been a potential priest. Before the exile, 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 73 

so Ezekiel informs us, the menial work of the temple, 
such as the sla)dng of the sacrifices and the cleansing 
of the implements, had been performed by foreign 
slaves (see Ezek., 44:8-13). This Ezekiel prohibited, 
and ordained that such work should in the future be 
done by the priests, who had formerly officiated in the 
high places which were now abolished. 

78. Second Isaiah. — ^After the death of Ezekiel no 
great Hebrew voice was heard for twenty years. The 
great Nebuchadrezzar died in 562 B.C., and, after the 
rapid succession of three weak kings, in 555 the rehgious 
devotee Nabonidus gained the throne. In 553 B.C. 
Cyrus the Persian overthrew the Median kingdom and 
inaugurated that series of conquests which created the 
Persian empire. In 546 he overcame Croesus, king of 
Lydia. Cyrus revoked the policy of transportation 
practiced by the later Assyrian and Babylonian kings, 
and permitted peoples who had been transported to 
dominions which he now conquered to return to their 
respective lands and revive their national institutions. 
His deeds during these years seem to have been fairly 
well known in Babylon, which he did not conquer imtil 
538 B.C. About 550 there arose in Babylonia a new 
prophet, whose utterances are now summed up in chap- 
ters 40-55 of the Book of Isaiah. We do not know his 
name, but call him the second Isaiah because by some 
literary accident or misconception his prophecies were 
attached to the book containing those of Isaiah. 

In the first half of his prophecies (Isa., chaps. 40-48), 
which were uttered before 538 B.C., he asserted that 
Cyrus was conquering for Yahweh and for Israel, 
declared that the opportimity for Hebrews to return to 



74 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Palestine was approaching, sought to impress his hearers 
with the might and majesty of Yahweh, the only real 
Gk)d, and to prepare them to return to their land when 
the opportunity came. When Babylon fell and the 
opportunity occurred, but few Judaeans embraced it, 
in spite of the prophet's impassioned appeals. He 
accordingly uttered another series of discourses (Isa., 
chaps. 49-55) to encourage them to return. All through 
his preaching he had addressed Israel as the "servant 
of Yahweh.'* When it was necessary to reprove her 
slowness, she was the unfaithful servant; when he 
thought of her possible service in the world, he por- 
trayed her as the ideal servant. This ideal he em- 
bodied in four poems, the greatest of which constitutes 
Isa. 52:13 — 53:12. Here he pictured Israel as by her 
sufferings making Yahweh known to the world. It was 
thus that he found a philosophy of the national mis- 
fortunes. Israel's sufferings had been double the 
amount that her own sins deserved (Isa. 40: 2). A part 
of this suffering had been incurred because she received 
the chastisement due to the nations. When the nations 
beheld, they would repent, the prophet declared, and 
turn to Yahweh (see Isa. 52:15; 53:1-5)- An ideal 
was thus called into existence which no nation could 
really fulfil. One only, Jesus of Nazareth, has fulfilled it. 
79. The Code of Holiness. — ^About 500 B.C. or 
earlier (perhaps during the time of the second Isaiah) 
a priest imbued with the prophetic spirit drew up the so- 
called Code of HoHness, which, excluding later additions,* 

* See 'J. E. Carpenter and G. Harford-Battersby, Hexatench, II, 
166-81; or S. R. Driver, "Leviticus," in Haupt's Sacred Books of the 
Old Testament, pp. 33-53. 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 75 

now constitutes Lev., chaps. 17--26. This writer felt 
the influence of Ezekiel strongly, as his laws and 
style prove. These laws were another step toward 
a rehgion which should attain by law what the great 
prophets had attempted to attain by loyalty to Yahweh. 

80. The rebuilding of the temple. — About 520 B.C. 
two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, who had apparently 
recently returned to Jerusalem from Babylonia, per- 
suaded the Judaeans that a lack of rain and its conse- 
quent famine were evidences of Yahweh's displeasure 
because the temple had not been rebuilt. The voices of 
these prophets were so persuasive that its rebuilding was 
imdertaken, and by 516 B.C. the temple was completed, 
though in a fashion far inferior to its former splendor. 

81. The third Isaiah. — ^After the completion of the 
temple ordinary historical sources fail us for seventy 
years. During this period, however, probably about 
450 B.C., a prophet kindred in spirit to the second Isaiah 
came forward. His stirring appeals are now found 
in Isa., chaps. 56-66, though here and there his words 
have been expanded by later editors. 

82. The priestly law. — While the third Isaiah was 
preaching in Jerusalem, priestly circles, probably in 
Babylonia, were busy making a further codification 
of the priestly law. In order to give that law and its 
requirements a proper perspective, an account of the 
creation was written, as well as brief narratives of the 
chief crises of the earlier history. The whole consti- 
tuted the P document.' In this law EzekieFs plan for 

^ For the sections comprising the P document see J. E. Carpenter 
and G. Harford-Battersby, Hexateuch, U; or W. E. Addis, Documents 
of the Hexateuch (London, 1898), II, 195-406. 



76 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Levites to perform the menial services of the sanctuary 
was adopted. Of course these Levites were descended 
from the priesthoods of the cities that in the old days 
had possessed the most flourishing high places. Later 
followers of the codifiers of the P document drew from 
this conclusion that all such cities must have been 
assigned by Joshua to Levitical clans — an inference that 
resulted in the distortion of historical perspective on 
a gigantic scale. 

83. Adoption of the priestly law. — ^During the 
administration of Nehemiah, which began in 444 B.C., a 
great convocation of Judaeans was held in the temple 
court at Jerusalem at which the new law was read to 
them and they bound themselves to keep it (see Neh., 
chaps. 8-10). The adoption of this law as the funda- 
mental law of religion marked the complete transfor- 
mation of the religion. The old nature religion was 
discarded and Judaism was born. While Judaism was 
the result of the transformation begun by the prophets, 
it differed in many respects from the prophetic ideals 
of the eighth century. To them Yahweh was a present 
God, whose voice still spoke in the hearts of his prophets. 
From the priestly point of view Yahweh was a distant, 
exalted God, who long ago spoke to Moses. The 
prophets had little use for ritual; to the priests ritual 
was of the utmost importance. 

84. Life after death. — ^To all Hebrews up to this 
time the dealings of Yahweh with his people were con- 
fined to life on the earth. He rewarded his faithful 
here; he punished the wicked in this life. The pictures 
of the life after death drawn in Isa. 14:9 ff. and Ezek. 
32:22-32 present the same gloomy non-religious con- 



THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 77 

ception as that held by the Babylonians and as that 
reflected in the eleventh book of Homer^s Odyssey. 

85. Spirits and demons. — The ancient Hebrews 
thought that the world was filled with spirits. These 
spirits were non-ethical. They were subject to Yahweh, 
and might be sent by him on missions either of blessing 
to man or of harm (see I Kings, chap. 22; Job, chaps. 
I and 2). In the prophetic period no need was felt 
for a behef in Satan. Yahweh was thought to do every- 
thing both good and evil (see Amos 3:6; Isa. 45:7). 
It was only after the exile that the figure of Satan began 
to emerge, and he was then only an adversary (Zech. 
3:1), not the full-fledged prince of evil that he after- 
ward became. 

86. Importance of the Hebrew religion. — The devel- 
opment of Israel's rehgion through the influence of the 
prophets from its primitive Semitic beginnings to the 
formation of Judaism is one of the most significant 
chapters in the history of the human race. In other 
countries, as in Egypt, monotheism was grasped by a 
few; in Israel alone was it made the possession of the 
people. Others conceived it as a great idea ; the prophets 
linked it with human rights and common justice. Per- 
haps even here it would have failed but for the mis- 
fortunes of the Jewish state. These constituted a 
sifting process by which the devotees of the higher reli- 
gion were separated from the reactionaries and formed 
into a community in which it was an axiom to men, 
women, and children that there is but one God and that 
he demands a righteous life. In this achievement were 
the seeds of the best religious experience of mankind. 
It was on account of this that the Hebrew rehgion became 



78 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the mother of the three great monotheistic religions of 
the world, Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 62: G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 
pp. 43-61. 

On sec. 67, : G. A. Barton, The Religion of Israel (New York, 1918), 
chap. iii. 

On sees. 64, 65: L. B. Paton in the Biblical World, XLVI, 82-88, 
173-80, and in the Journal of Biblical Literature, XXXII, 
1-54; also G. A. Barton, The Religion of Israel, chap, iii, or 
"The Historical Value of the Patriarchal Narratives," Pro- 
ceedings of the American Philosophical Society, LII, 185-200. 

On. sec. 66: G. A. Barton, "Yahweh before Moses," Studies in 
the History of Religion Presented to Crawford Howell Toy 
by Pupils, Colleagues, and Friends (New York, 191 2), 
pp. 187-204. 

On sec. 67: G. A. Barton, Religion of Israel, chap. iv. 

On sees. 68-86: G. A. Barton, Religion of Israel, chaps, v-ix; 
or K. Budde, The Religion of Israel to the Exile, Lectures 
II- VI; W. E. Addis, Hebrew Religion (New York, 1906), 
chaps, iv-ix; or K. Marti, The Religion of the Old Testament 
(New York, 1907), chaps, ii-iv. 

CLASS B 

H. T. Fowler, The Origin and Growth of the Hebrew Religion 
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1916); J. M. P. 
Smith, The Prophet and His Problems (New York, 1914). 



CHAPTER V 

JUDAISM 

The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul. 

— Ps. 19:7. 
Oh how love I thy law! 
It is my meditation all the day. 

— ^Ps. 119:97. 

Behold the fear of Yahweh, that is wisdom; 
And to depart from evil is understanding. 

—Job 28:28. 

But the saints of the Most High shall receive the king- 
dom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. — 
Dan. 7:18. 

Simon the Just was one of the last of the great synagogue. 
He used to say: "The world rests upon three things — ^upon the 
law, upon the service, and upon the charity of the pious." — Pirqe 
Aboth i, 2. 

Until what time do they recite the Shema^ in the evening? 
. . . . The wise say: "imtil midnight." Rabban Gamaliel 
says: "imtil the dawn of morning." — ^Berakoth i, i. 

87. The Persian period. — The adoption of the Law 
in the time of Nehemiah led, as pointed out in the last 
chapter, to the establishment of Judaism. Not all the 
Jews were resident in Palestine. Most of those who 
had been settled in Babylonia did not return, but con- 
tinued to live there. Babylonian business documents 
of the Persian period contain a large number of Jewish 

* Shema ("hear") is the Jewish name for the great confession of 
faith found in Deut. 6:4 f., beginning "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our 
God is one Yahweh." 

79 



8o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

names. This colony, known as the Goliouth, or "Cap- 
tivity," continued for fifteen hundred years to be an 
important colony in Babylonia. Like their brethren 
in Palestine, the Babylonian Jews accepted the priestly 
law. Indeed, it is the belief of most scholars that it had 
been compiled among them by disciples of Ezekiel. 
From Babylonia Jews had spread eastward to Media and 
Persia. A considerable Jewish colony existed at Ele- 
phantine in Egypt also. They possessed a temple, and 
apparently did not receive the new law at once.' 

When the temple was rebuilt at Jerusalem and the 
worship was reorganized, an appropriate hymn book 
was necessary, hence the first portion of the Psalter 
(Pss. 3-41) was compiled. Enthusiasm for the Law and 
the high hopes it awakened in many pious souls are 
reflected in some of these psalms, as in Ps. 19: 7-1 1. 

Extensive as was the influence of the Law it did not, 
however, enhst the affections of all. The sages appear 
to have been almost untouched by it. About 400 B.C. 
one of these composed the great poem which is now the 
Book of Job. He was a devout Israelite and a believer 
in Yahweh, but he investigated and discussed the prob- 
lems of life with a freedom entirely untrammeled by 
the Law. In his poem the problem of suffering is treated 
in a way that proves the inadequacy of the popular 
theology and portrays the growth that may come to a 
soul in the crucible of suffering.* 

Josephus informs us^ that about 350 B.C. the Persian 
general Bagoses dealt very harshly with the Jews for 

* See G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, Part II, chap. xix. 
'See G. A. Barton, "Job," Bible for Home and School (New York, 
1911), pp. 7-12. 

' Antiquities of the Jews, XI, vii, i. 



JUDAISM 8i 

seven years. Many scholars think that the cause of this 
was an attempt on the part of the Jews to gain their 
independence. This attempt is believed to have called 
forth much national and religious enthusiasm, and to 
have been the occasion of the compilation of two more 
books of the Psalter, Pss. 42-73, to which Pss. 84-89 
were later added as an appendix. 

88. The Samaritans. — The Book of Nehemiah shows 
that friction between the Jews and the Samaritans 
existed as early as the fifth century. The Samaritans 
wished to be coimted as Jews; the Jews looked on them 
with suspicion because of their mixed descent (see 
II Kings 17:24-34). Before the time of Alexander the 
Great the frittion had become so acute that the schism 
was complete. The Samaritans built ,a temple on 
Mount Gerizim and became a separate sect (see John 
4:20), which has persisted, though with greatly dimin- 
ished nimibers, to the present day.^ They took as their 
Bible the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua, though 
they have transformed Joshua so freely that it is hardly 
recognizable. 

89. The Greek period. — With the conquest of 
Palestine by Alexander in 332 Palestine passed imder 
Hellenic control. After his death both the Ptolemies 
of Egypt and the Seleucidae of Antioch offered Jews 
inducements to settle in various cities of their dominions. 
The settlements thus made tended to scatter the Dias- 
pora, as the Jews outside of Palestine were called, more 
widely, and to bring them into contact with the varied 
life of the world. So many of them settled at Alexandria 

' For the character and history of the Samaritan sect, see J. A. 
Montgomery, The Samaritans (Philadelphia. 1907). 



Si THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

in Egypt that it became a little Judaea. There about 
250 B.C. the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into 
Greek, known as the Septuagint, was begun. Mean- 
time Palestine, subject at first to the Ptolemies, then 
a bone of contention between them and the Seleucidae, 
passed in 199 B.C. under the dominion of the Syrian 
monarchs. It felt the influence of the various currents 
of life and thought that swayed the world, although the 
Jews resident in it were far more sheltered than their 
brethren of the Diaspora. 

In Judaea the variety of thought manifested in the 
Persian period continued. The sages were active. 
The book of Proverbs, the collection of which was, per- 
haps, begun under the Persians, was brought to com- 
pletion.' An unknown sage composed, about 200 B.C., 
the Book of Ecclesiastes in which the skeptical influences 
generated by Greek thought are clearly apparent.^ 
About twenty years later Joshua, son of Sirach, com- 
posed the book commonly called Ecclesiasticus. Devo- 
tees of the Law were not, however, wanting. Its 
precepts were cherished by many, and its priestly regu- 
lations were not only pondered, but supplemented. 

90. The rise of apocalyptic literature. — Before the 
organization of Judaism the voice of prophecy had nearly 
ceased. After that time there were but few to prophesy, 
and their voices were not strong. Such were Joel, the 
author of Isa., chaps. 24-27, and of Zech., chaps. 9-14. 
This last prophet lived in the Greek period, perhaps as 

* See Cornill, Introduction to the Canonical Literature of the Old 
Testament, pp. 437-47. 

'See the introduction to G. A. Barton, "Commentary on Eccle- 
siastes," International Critical Commentary. 



JUDAISM 83 

late as 250 B.C., and predicted that there should be no 
more prophets after hun (see Zech. 13 : 2-5). After this 
time no one dared to speak in his own name as a mouth- 
piece of Yahweh. Struggling humanity could not rest 
satisfied without reKgious guidance, so after 200 B.C. 
there arose a succession of apocalyptists, who couched 
the teaching the age needed in the form of visions which 
were attributed to some famous person of ancient times. 

Six such apocalypses were attributed to Enoch, one 
to Noah, one to Moses, one to Isaiah, six to Baruch, 
one to Shealtiel, two to Ezra, one to Daniel, one to 
each of Jacob's sons, not to mention apocalyptic frag- 
ments attributed to Solomon and the Sibyl. The 
earliest of these, written between 200 and 170 B.C., was 
attributed to Enoch and is now embodied in Enoch, 
chaps. 1-36. The sources of apocalyptic visions were 
unfulfilled prophecy and the Babylonian creation-myth. 
The Babylonian myth gave the apocalyptists their 
philosophy of the universe. Evil was personified as 
a great world-power, and, they thought, that just as 
in the myth there had been a great struggle before 
the present heavens and earth could be created — 
a struggle in which the dragon had been overcome — so 
there would be a great conflict before the new heaven 
and new earth could be created. Under the influ- 
ences of this apocalyptic material the messianic hope 
was eventually transformed from the expectation of an 
earthly king of the Davidic dynasty to the expecta- 
tion of a heavenly Messiah v/ho should come on the 
clouds of heaven. 

91. TheMaccabean revolt. — The readiness with which 
certain Jews accepted Hellenic ideas led Antiochus IV 



84 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of Syria to attempt in i68 b.c. to suppress the Jewish 
religion and forcibly to establish Hellenic rehgion in its 
place. This led to the so-called Maccabean uprising, 
which was supported by the most ardent devotees of the 
Law. After a struggle of twenty-five years, through 
various vicissitudes, military, poHtical, and religious, 
the Jews won their independence, emerging from the 
struggle with Simon the Maccabee as their high priest 
and prince — two offices which they made hereditary in 
his house.^ This successful uprising called forth the 
greatest national and religious enthusiasm. The hopes 
and fears of its early stages are reflected in the Book of 
Daniel, written between i68 and 165 B.C.; the religious 
aspirations and enthusiasm are mirrored in Books IV 
and V of the Psalter (Pss. 90-150), which were compiled 
just at the close of this period. 

92. The synagogue.— The origin of the synagogue 
is shrouded in obscurity. When it is first mentioned in 
religious literature it was an institution already old. 
It apparently arose before the Maccabean revolt, as 
the burning of synagogues is one of the atrocities laid 
to the Syrians in Ps. 74:8 — a psalm which was probably 
re-edited in the Maccabean period. Perhaps the syna- 
gogue originated in Babylonia. In any case it was 
intended to be a place for the public reading and inter- 
pretation of the Law and for united prayer. It was 
introduced into Palestine, not only into the country 
villages far from the temple, but into Jerusalem itself. 
Little by little the synagogue became the center of the 
religious hfe of Judaism, especially after the destruc- 
tion of the temple. Its democratic services are elasti. 

» See I ]\Iacc. 13:35-41. 



JUDAISM 85 

and have adapted themselves to all the forms of Jewish 
life/ 

93. Rise of the Pharisees and Sadducees. — Under the 
descendants of Simon, who are often called Asmonaeans, 
the Jews were independent for eighty years. These 
princes soon assumed the title of king and conquered 
practically all the territory over which David had ruled. 
The pious devotees of the Law did not relish having 
a worldly high priest who played poKtics and engaged 
in wars. Little by Kttle they developed their ideas into 
a tolerably consistent system and took the name ''Phari- 
sees," or separated ones, to signify their idea that the 
Jews should be separate from the world. They came 
into particular prominence as an opposition party in the 
reign of Alexander Jannaeus, 104-79 ^-C-, and were so 
strong that upon his death Alexander advised his wife 
to make her peace with them. During her reign, there- 
fore, they were the dominant party and continued to 
exert a paramount influence in Judaism. With refer- 
ence to legal customs they v^ere conservative, insisting 
upon the rigid fulfilment of the Law; in thought they 
were in some respects more advanced, accepting, for 
example, the newer conception of the resurrection of the 
dead (see Dan. 12:2-4). The Sadducees were more 
conservative in thought, adhering to the older Hebrew 
non-behef in a resurrection, while in practice they were 
less rigid, and did not insist so strictly upon all the 
details of the Law. 

Another somewhat obscure sect that developed 
before the Christian era was the Essenes, who mingled 
with the observance of the Jewish law some elements of 

^ See "Synagogue" in the Jewish Encyclopedia. 



S6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Persian thought. They were not very numerous and 
lived in coenobitic communities. 

94. The oral law. — The desire of the Pharisees to 
give strict adherence to the Pentateuch in all the details 
of life led to a careful study of its requirements and to 
definite interpretations of them. These interpretations 
led to the formulation of traditional rules as to what 
was and what was not allowed by the Law. These tra- 
ditions were ultimately written down in the Mishnah, 
but for two centuries or more they were passed 
from rabbi to pupil as traditions and constituted the 
oral law. 

In the reign of Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.) the first 
schools for the conservation and transmission of this 
oral law were organized in Jerusalem. Shammai was 
the head of the school of strictly literal interpretation; 
Hillel, who had been bom in Babylonia, was the head 
of the school of more liberal interpretation. Hillel, for 
example, so interpreted the law against taking interest 
in Deut. 23 : 19, 20 that it was practically set aside and 
the Jews were permitted to become a commercial people. 
Shammai and Hillel had their successors in Judaism for 
many centuries. In interpreting the Law and applying 
it to the details of the hfe of a continuous community, 
these rabbis naturally developed the Law. The oral 
law, like the Pharisaic movement out of which it sprang, 
is evidence of an intense desire to do the will of God 
and to order the earthly life according to the expressed 
will of heaven. God had, however, become to these 
men remote. His voice, once heard, was thought to 
have been long silent. The best that religion could do 
was to treasure the words uttered long ago. 



JUDAISM 87 

95. Philo. — While in Jerusalem and Babylonia Phari- 
saism was developing, in some of the western settle- 
ments of the Diaspora Judaism was being broadened 
by contact with philosophic thought. This was nota- 
bly the case in Alexandria, where Philo Judaeus, born 
about 20 B.C., lived and wrote. He died before 40 a.d. 
and was accordingly a contemporary of Jesus of Naza- 
reth. Philo was the successor of the sages of the 
earlier time. A thorough monotheist, he approached 
the problems of Hfe from the standpoint of reason 
rather than from that of the Law. He was profoundly 
affected by Greek philosophy, and developed a doctrine 
of the Logos, or Word, as an emanation from God which 
in some respects resembles that in the Gospel of John, 
though in some of its phases it is quite different from 
that. 

96. Judaism in the time of Paul. — Jewish Kfe in the 
first century of the Christian era presented great variety, 
nevertheless it was all bound together by the doctrine 
of monotheism and by the congregational life of the 
synagogue. The ideals of the Pharisees were very 
influential far beyond the borders of Palestine. Paul, 
for example, bom at Tarsus of a family that had appar- 
ently been resident there for nearly two centuries,^ was 
sent to Jerusalem to be educated under Gamaliel, 
Hillel's great successor. Paul, though of the Diaspora, 
was a Pharisee. No doubt his case is typical of many. 
Paul's missionary journeys afford glimpses, even if pre- 
judiced ghmpses, into many synagogues. Distinguished 
strangers, if Jews, were invited to explain the lessons 

^ See W. M. Ramsay, The Cities of St. Paul (New York, 1908), 
pp. 180-86. 



88 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of the day at the Sabbath services, and Paul found in 
this his opportunity to present his Christian point of 
view. The uniformity with which it v/as rejected is 
proof of the inner coherence of the scattered Judaism of 
the time. In Palestine itself intolerance of foreign rule 
was steadily growing. In the year 66 this led to open 
revolt, which in the year 70 resulted in the destruction 
of Jerusalem and the final annihilation of the temple. 

97. Jamnia. — Before the destruction of Jerusalem 
the city of Jabneh in the Philistine plain, called by the 
Greeks Jamnia, had become an important center of 
Jewish learning. It is the same as the Jabneel of Josh. 
15:11. Upon the destruction of Jerusalem the San- 
hedrin moved to Jamnia, where its sessions were held 
most of the time until the rebelKon of Bar Chocheba, 
132-35 A.D. The famous Rabbi Akiba, who was born 
about 50 and died 132 a.d., lived here. In the discus- 
sions of the rabbis at Jamnia the oral law was further 
developed, and it was decided that Ecclesiastes and the 
Song of Songs are canonical Scripture. This decision 
finally closed the Old Testament Canon. 

98. The Talmudic period. — The Talmud consists 
of two main strata, the Mishnah and Gemara. Each 
of these consists of several strata of traditions. The 
Mishnah rests upon the collection of the traditions 
made by Rabbi Judah, the Prince, in the early part of 
the third century a.d. These traditions were of gradual 
growth. They had been given shape by the pupils of 
Hillel and Shammai in the first century. In time the 
wording of the traditions was found to differ in differ- 
ent schools, and the Sanhedrin of Jabneh at the end of 
the first century examined them, assorted them, and 



JUDAISM 89 

determined their exact wording. Later they were 
revised by Rabbi Akiba, who excluded many traditional 
interpretations and abbreviated others. By the end 
of the second century many variations had again crept 
into the traditions, and Rabbi Judah, the Prince, in 
order to secure uniformity, re-examined the interpre- 
tations and committed them to ^vriting. Up to this 
time there had been a strong prejudice against allowing 
the traditions to be written. The edition of Rabbi 
Judah was so convenient and his reputation was so great 
that his revision soon supplanted all traditional forms of 
the text in the schools both of Palestine and of Baby- 
lonia. Thus the Mishnah was completed. The name 
means "repetition," and then "law learned by repe- 
tition." It is derived from the method of study in the 
rabbinical schools, where the pupil repeated the words 
of the teacher imtil he knew them by heart. The 
rabbis who formulated the traditions of the Mishnah 
are called Tanaim or "Repeaters." They Kved before 

200 A.D. 

After the formation of the Mishnah the development 
of the traditional lav/ went on for three hundred years 
in the schools of Palestine and of Babylonia. As the 
advancing Hfe of the community called for the appli- 
cation of the law to new situations, the law was devel- 
oped by interpretation. In the sixth century the 
traditions later than the Mishnah were written dov/n in 
the Gemara. The rabbis who contributed to the tradi- 
tions of the Gemara are called Amoraim or "Sayers." 
They did not lay claim to as high an authority as the 
Tanaim and their words are even less fresh and vital 
than those of their predecessors. The Gemara is in 



90 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

reality in the nature of a commentary on the Mishnah. 
The two together constitute the Talmud. 

Although the Talmud is not inspiring reading, it 
reveals to us a people of great religious devotion and 
earnestness — a people groping after God, anxious in 
every detail of life to do his wall, and ready to make 
any and every sacrifice to obey him. If they lived on 
tradition, because they thought the voice of God now 
silent, they did not in this respect differ from the Chris- 
tians of the time. The Talmud shaped the main course 
of orthodox Judaism and is, after the Bible, its chief 
religious book. Philo and Alexandrian Jewish thought 
left no permanent impress on Judaism, partly because 
of the Jewish aversion to Christianity, which had 
appropriated the Alexandrian conceptions, and partly 
because of the decline of philosophical thinking. 

99. The Geonim. — The head of a rabbinical school 
in Babylonia was given the title Gaon, "Majesty" — 
in the plural, Geonim. After the completion of the 
Talmud until the eleventh century the schools of 
Babylonia had such a reputation that the decisions of 
these Geonim. were widely accepted. After the Moham- 
medan conquest in the seventh century the Geonim were 
accepted as the arbiters of practice in the countries 
under Mohammedan rule — the East and Spain — but 
later their decisions were eagerly sought and widely 
accepted all over Europe. Their authority waned in the 
eleventh century. 

100. The Karaites are a Jewish sect which split off 
from the main body in the eighth century. The sect 
had its origin in Babylonia; its founder was Anan ben 
David, an Exilarch, or leader of the Captivity, as the 



JUDAISM 91 

Jewish colony iii Babylonia was still called. The move- 
ment was a revolt against tradition and rabbinism and 
an attempt to follow the Bible only. The name of the 
sect comes from kdrd, ''to read," and expresses the desire 
of its members to guide their Kves by what could be 
read in the Bible rather than by what had been handed 
down by tradition. Anan recognized, however, that 
the bibHcal laws could not apply literally to all the 
details of the life of his day, and through the influence 
of the system of Abu Hanifa, a Mohammedan lawyer, he 
recognized that biblical laws could be extended by 
analogy and by allegorical interpretation. Allegorical 
exegesis really opened the way to extend the law by 
speculation, though the speculations were introduced 
under cover of biblical interpretations. 

While the Karaites rejected the traditions, they did 
not succeed in entirely emancipating themselves from 
them. They are accused by orthodox Jews of reverting 
to principles of the Sadducees and the Essenes as well 
as of being profoundly influenced by Mohammedanism. 
During the first tw^o or three centuries of their existence 
the Karaites made many converts in Babylonia, Persia, 
Sjn-ia, Palestine, and Egypt. In the twelfth century 
they began to make converts in Europe, gaining 
many in the Byzantine Empire, where they flourished 
until its fall in the fifteenth century. Later many 
were found in Lithuania and in Russia. In Russia 
they exist in considerable numbers at the present 
time. 

Id. Jews in the Middle Ages. — By the beginning 
of the eleventh century the influence of the Babylonian 
schools upon Judaism had begun to decline. Babylon 



92 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

had given to Jewry the written Law, and, in the Baby- 
lonian Talmud, the traditional law in its most widely 
accepted form. The decisions of her Geonim had been 
widely accepted; but nov/ the glory departed from the 
Jewish communities of Babylonia. Babylonian scholars 
are said to have migrated and founded rabbinical schools 
in Alexandria, Kairwan, near the site of Carthage, Cor- 
dova, and perhaps at Narbonne. Until the sixteenth 
century the life of the Jews was comparatively free in the 
countries around the Mediterranean. Jewish scholars 
distinguished themselves among the scholars of the 
world, and a number of Jewish poets flourished. 

Among the gifted poets was Moses Ibn Ezra (1070- 
1138) ; among the distinguished philosophers of the time 
was Ibn Gabirol (Avicibron) (1021-58). In this period 
four scholars flourished who profoundly influenced the 
Judaism of the West. They were Solomon Bar Isaac, 
called Rashi (1040-1105), who lived in France and 
whose commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud were 
v^ery influential; Abraham Ibn Ezra (1093-1138), a 
native of Toledo in Spain, whose commentaries on the 
Pentateuch and many other books of the Bible were of 
great importance; Moses Ben Maimon, or Maimonides 
( 1 135-1204), who was a philosopher as well as an exegete, 
who endeavored to reconcile Aristotle with the Bible, and 
whose principles of interpreting the Talmud, though 
they really set some parts of the traditional law aside, 
were generally accepted; and David Kimchi (1160- 
1235), who learned from the Arabian scholars the gram- 
matical science which they in turn had learned from the 
Greeks, and who applied it to the interpretation of the 
Hebrew Bible. Kimchi was influential, not only among 



JUDAISM 93 

Jews, but among the Christian reformers who studied 
his grammatical works, and through them he profoundly 
influenced the Protestant scholarship of a later age. 
Maimonides surpassed all these in influence. He is often 
called by the Jews the second Moses. In this period 
Jewish scholars and religious thinkers were more able 
and were better equipped than those of Christendom. 

102. Period of the Ghetto. — In 1492 the Jews were 
expelled from Spain, and in the next century in most 
European countries they were compelled to live in 
separate quarters of the towns where they resided. If 
these quarters were sufficiently large at first, they soon 
ceased to be on account of the natural increase of the 
population. Herded in these narrow ghettos and pro- 
hibited generally from acquiring an education in the 
languages of the countries in which they resided, they 
made the synagogue the center of Jewish life. Through 
centuries of ostracism they kept their faith, though they 
produced no such thinkers as in the preceding period. 

103. Jewish emancipation. — Moses Ben Menahem- 
Mendel, or Moses Mendelssohn (17 29-1 786), is counted 
by the Jews as Moses the Third, or Moses the Emanci- 
pator. He was born at Dessau and educated in Berlin. 
Having himself by indomitable energy gained an edu- 
cation, he formed friendships with a number of dis- 
tinguished Germans, the most important of whom was 
Lessing. He translated the Pentateuch into German. 
His coreKgionists, studying this, became acquainted 
with the language of the country and thus had access 
to modern learning. One of his most famous works 
was entitled Jerusalem. In it he made a plea for the 
emancipation of Judaism and argued for the separation 



94 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of church and state. This work had a wide influence. 
The emancipation of the Jews in France, begun in 1784, 
was completed by the French Revolution. Between 
T782 and 18 14 it followed in Austria and Germany. 
Other countries took similar action, so that in Western 
Europe the shackles were struck from the Jews, though 
in Russia the mediaeval conditions prevailed until the 
revolution of 191 7. 

104. Zionism. — During the centuries of the Christian 
era Judaism never entirely lost the messianic hope. In 
times of persecution it was revived, and at all times the 
prayers recited in the synagogue asked for the coming 
of Messiah and the restoration to Palestine. The long 
residence of the Jews in different lands, where, after the 
emancipation, they became the citizens of different 
coimtries, led in some sections to an abandoning of 
Israel's national hopes. 

Nevertheless, since 1895 an extensive movement 
for the recovery of Palestine and the establishment of 
a Jewish state has arisen, and is backed by an extensive 
organization. This movement is due to the influence of 
Theodor HerzFs book The Jewish State^ the German 
original of which was published in 1895. It is called 
Zionism. Its adherents are orthodox Jews. They 
regard the Law as binding and Israel as in exile. Until 
the temple can be rebuilt she is compelled to break 
many of the laws of the Pentateuch. 

105. Reform Judaism. — Reform Judaism began in 
Germany about 1845, but has its center now in the 
United States. It is the result of the impact of modern 
science — evolution, bibHcal criticism, and philosophy — 
upon Jewish teachers. Reform Judaism rejects the 



JUDAISM 95 

messianic hope and looks for no restoration to Palestine. 
It regards Judaism simply as a religion. It distinguishes 
between the moral and the ceremonial law, regarding 
all ceremonial laws as natural evolutions, and holds 
itself at Kberty to reject them except in so far as time- 
honored custom is psychologically necessary to religion. 
The dietary laws are generally disregarded, and the 
prayers of the S3aiagogue are much modified. Organs 
and mixed choirs furnish music in the reform synagogues. 
Reform Jews substitute for the messianic hope the con- 
ception of Israel as a messianic people, chosen to teach 
the world of the one true God. They believe that the 
Aaronic priesthood has passed away; every Jew is a 
priest. The world and humanity are, in their view, 
under God's guidance; humanity is not innately sinful; 
it is Israel's mission to acquaint every being with the fact 
that he is a child of God and to call him to a righteous life. 
1 06. The spirit of Judaism, whether orthodox or 
reform, is still noble. Jews regard themselves as the 
heirs of the prophets, as the preachers of monotheism, 
and the champions of social righteousness. Among 
themselves they exhibit a good degree of social solidar- 
ity, helping one another now, as they have during 
centuries of persecution, in many practical ways. They 
have in modern times furnished, too, a good quota of the 
world's notable philanthropists. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sees. 87 and 8^-93 : cf . G. A. Barton, The Religion of Israel, 
chaps, viii-xvi; or J. P. Peters, The Religion of the Hebrews, 
chaps, xxiv-xxix, and "Synagogue" in the Jewish Ency- 
clopedia. 



96 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

On sec. 88: J. A. Montgomery, The Samaritans, passim. 

On sec. 94: the article "Oral Law" in the Jewish Encyclopedia. 

On sec. 95: "Philo" in the Jewish Encyclopedia; or James Drum- 
mond, Philo Judaeus (London, 1888). 

On sees. 96-98: "Mishnah" and "Talmud" in the Jewish Ency- 
clopedia; and Hershon, Treasures of the Talmud (London, 
1882), passim; also Hereford, Christianity in Talmud and 
Midrash (London, 1903), passim. 

On sees. 99, 100: "Geonim" and "Karaites" in the Jewish Ency- 
clopedia. 

On sees. loi, 102: "Ghetto" in the Jewish Encyclopedia; or 
I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 
1906), passim. 

On sees. 103-105: "Emancipation," "Zionism," "Reform Juda- 
ism," "Moses Mendelssohn," and "Theodor Herzl" in the 
Jewish Encyclopedia. 

On sec. 106: "Judaism" in the Jewish Encyclopedia] M. Fried- 
lander, The Jewish Religion (London, 1900); I. Abrahams, 
Judaism (London, 19 10). 

CLASS B 

I. Abrahams, Judaism, 1910. 



CHAPTER VI 

MOHAMMEDANISM 

Say: He is God alone, the everlasting God; he does not beget, 
and he is not begotten; and there is not one equal to him. — ^Koran, 
Sura cxii. 

Fear God .... surely God is knowing and wise. — ^Koran, 
Sura xxxiii, i. 

God is forgiving and merciful. — ^Koran, Sura xxxiii, 5. 

Those who misbeHeve, for them are cut out garments of fire. 
There shall be poured over their heads boiling water, wherewith 
what is in their bellies shall be dissolved and their skins too, and 
for them are maces of iron. Whenever they desire to come forth 
therefrom through pain, they are sent back into it: "And taste 
ye the torment of the burning." — Koran, Sura xxii, 20. 

Is the rev/ard of goodness aught but goodness ? Then which 
of your lord's bounties will ye twain deny? And beside these, 

are gardens twain, .... with dark green foHage In each 

two gushing springs In each fruits and palms and pome- 
granates In them maidens best and fairest ! . . . . Bright 

and large-eyed maidens kept in their tents .... whom no man 
or jinn has deflowered before them .... recHning on cushions 

and beautiful carpets Blessed be the name of the Lord 

possessed of majesty and honor. — ^Koran, Sura Iv, 60-75. 

107. Arabia, the cradle of Islam, is one of the most 
sterile portions of the earth's surface. The greatest 
length of the peninsula is 1,000 miles, and its average 
breadth is 600 miles. This area consists of great 
stretches of upland gravel on which only hardy thorn 
bushes groW; of sandy deserts, and of extensive tracts 

97 



98 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of igneous rock. A few scattered oases, produced by 
isolated springs, and a comparatively fertile strip along 
the southern end of the peninsula slightly relieve its 
sterility. 

From this barren land from time immemorial Semites 
have been pouring into other lands, carrying with them 
the peculiar type of Semitic religion alluded to in chap- 
ter i. By the sixth century a.d. the old Semitic rehgion 
had been in some degree transformed and had lost some- 
thing of its hold upon the people.' Jews and Christian 
ascetics had to some degree penetrated the peninsula. 
At Mecca, the seat of the pov/erful tribe of Koreish, 
a center to which people from all parts of the peninsula 
came each year to celebrate a festival and to trade, four 
men had broken away from heathenism and called them- 
selves "Inquirers." They professed to be searching for 
the catholic faith of Abraham. 

io8. Mohammed. — It was under these conditions 

that Mohammed was born at Mecca about 570 a.d. 

Left an orphan at an early age, he was cared for first 

by his grandfather and then by an uncle. He appears 

to have been a quiet and an exemplary youth, and, with 

the exception of two visits to Syria with trading caravans, 

passed the first fifty years of his life at Mecca. At the 

age of twenty-five he married a widow, Khadijah, who 

bore him two sons and four daughters. The sons died 

in infancy, but the daughters grew up. When about 

forty years old Mohammed was agitated by grave 

'^ For conditions in Arabia before Mohammed, see W. R. Smith, 
Kinship aitd Marriage in Early Arabia, 2d ed. (London, 1903); G. A. 
Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins (New York, 1902), chaps, ii and 
iii; and for the peninsula itself, S. M. Zwemer, Arabia the Cradle of 
Islam (New^York, 1900). 



MOHAMMEDANISM 99 

doubts and, withdrawing from the city, spent two years 
in a cave in prayer and meditation. He came forth 
with the conviction that God had commissioned him to 
be a prophet to his people, as the Hebrew prophets and 
Jesus had been commissioned to the Jews. He at once 
began to preach and for ten years labored in Mecca 
against great odds. Converts were never numerous, 
and during the first part of this period they were very 
few. At one time Mohammed and his followers were 
confined by a ban to a narrow section of the city and 
endured great hardship. Under such circumstances 
a little group of behevers were gathered about the 
prophet. 

109. Doctrines. — The cardinal doctrine of Moham- 
med was the oneness and aloneness of God, whom he 
called Allah, ^'The God." The one God was conceived 
by him as a great human being or a transcendent 
man. He had hands, eyes, and human attributes. 
He was thought to be all-wise and all-powerful, and 
to be the absolute despot of the world. It was useless 
for man to hope to understand him, but God would 
be merciful if man submitted to him. Next in impor- 
tance to the doctrine of God was the doctrine of the 
prophetic fimction of Mohammed. Through Moham- 
med, God made his final revelation; Mohammed was 
the seal of the prophets; no prophet was to come after 
him. Religion is supposed to make a man "whole," 
to give him "peace." The root by which this is ex- 
pressed in Arabic is salama, the infinitive of the causa- 
tive stem of which, islam, means "to submit." As 
Mohammed preached the doctrine of submission to God 
he called his religion Islam. 



lOO THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

To these doctrines Mohammed added, from the 
time of his earliest ministry, a doctrine of material 
rewards and punishments. Believers were to be 
rewarded with a material paradise, and unbelievers 
were to be tortured in a very material hell. His ideas 
on this point are indicated in the quotations at the head 
of this chapter. The outward duties of behevers were 
to pray five times a day, as well as to be just and kind 
to the poor. The doctrines of angels and of Satan were 
taken over from Judaism, though the figure of Satan 
was blurred by conceptions of the jinn inherited from 
Arabian heathenism. 

no. The Prophet at Medina. — In the year 622 the 
Prophet fled from Mecca and took up his abode at 
Medina.^ This was accomplished through a secret 
understanding with the men of Medina and in spite of 
the determination of the men of Mecca to prevent it at 
any cost. The flight marked such an epoch in the Hfe 
of Islam that Mohammedans begin their era for reckon- 
ing time from its date. At Medina, Mohammed was 
accepted by the Arabs as ruler of the city. At Medina, 
Islam was transformed in many ways. Until Moham- 
med had resided in Medina for some time he had prayed 
with his face toward Jerusalem. He fondly hoped that 
the Jews, of whom there were numbers in Medina, would 
accept him as a successor of their prophets. When this 
hope was disappointed, the Prophet changed the Kibla, 
or the direction of the face in prayer, from Jerusalem to 
Mecca. Henceforth the ideals of Arabian heathenism 

^ The real name of the city was Yathrib. It was so called when 
Mohammed moved thither. Later it was called Medinat un-Nabi, 
"the city of the Prophet," afterward shortened to Medina. 



MOHAMMEDANISM lOi 

were more influential in Islam than those of Jerusalem 
and Israel. At Medina the Prophet, as the head of the 
state, engaged in successful wars, in raids for robbery, 
and not only descended to trickery and violence, but 
had revelations justifying these practices. Islam was 
no longer a religion of moral suasion; the alternative 
became conversion or death. 

Khadijah had died before Mohammed left Mecca, 
and during his career at Medina he extended, sometimes 
by revelation,^ his marriages far beyond the number 
four, which he allowed to other believers. Before the 
end of the period Mecca was captured by him, and the 
pilgrimage to Mecca, with the heathen ceremonies in- 
volved in it, became a part of Islam. The black stone 
of the Kaaba thus became sacred to him who abhorred 
idols; it became a sacred privilege to drink from the 
waters of the well Zemzem in Mecca; and sacrifice 
became a part of a rehgion that recognizes no place for 
atonement. Before the Prophet died, in 632 a.d., all 
Arabia had given him a nominal allegiance. 

III. The Medina caliphate and the Koran. — Follow- 
ing the death of Mohammed a chief was chosen to 
govern the community. He was called al-khalifa, "the 
follower" or "successor" of the Prophet. He did not, 
like the Prophet, receive revelations from heaven. He 
was guided by the prophet's words and by what he 
thought the Prophet would do if he were alive. The 
caliphate of Medina lasted from 632 to 660. During 
this time the conquests of Islam were extended over 
Palestine, Egypt, and Persia. The early policy, that 
those who would not accept Islam should be put to the 

^ See Sura xxxiii, 375. 



I02 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

sword, was modified; they were permitted to pay a 
tax. This tax went to swell the fortunes of the ruling 
congregation of Medina. During this period the Koran 
was compiled and its text fixed. In the Prophet's 
lifetime many of the suras had been carried in the mem- 
ory of his devout followers. Of some of them notes 
had been made on bits of bone, leather, or palm leaf. 
In the reign of Abu-Bekr, 632-34, these were brought 
together in a book. The longer were placed first, and 
the shorter after them. No attempt was made to place 
them in chronological order. As most of the longer ones 
were uttered at Medina, the arrangement brings the 
greater number of the later suras at the beginning of the 
book. In the reign of Othman, 644-56, the text of 
the Koran was fixed by the addition of vowel points. 
The book thus formed became, as the Prophet intended 
it should, the fundamental religious and civil law of the 
Mohammedans. It was believed to be eternal. Its 
heavenly counterpart had existed with God in the 
highest heaven from all eternity. God intrusted copies 
of it to the angel Gabriel and permitted him to take 
them to the lowest heaven, and to impart the contents 
to Mohammed bit by bit as the Prophet needed it. 
This revelation was thus held to be fundamental and 
final. That later parts sometimes contradicted earlier 
parts did not seriously trouble the early generations of 
Islam. 

In 656 Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, was 
chosen caliph. The Prophet had expressed the wish 
that Ali succeed him, and many thought that he should 
have been chosen when the Prophet died. At this 
juncture Muawia, a descendant of Omeyya, a cousin of 



MOHAMMEDANISM - 103 

Mohammed's grandfather, revolted. Before his revolt 
Muawia had been governor of Damascus for several 
years, and pushed his revolt from that vantage-ground. 
The whole of Ali's caliphate was occupied with the civil 
war thus precipitated. Finally in 660 Ali was assassi- 
nated and Muawia triumphed. 

112. The Damascus caliphate. — Muawia established 
the Omayyad caliphate of Damascus upon the ruins 
of the caliphate of Medina. His family, though kius- 
men of Mohammed, had clung to their heathenism as 
long as they could. During the Prophet's ministry at 
Mecca and most of his residence at Medina they had 
been among his most bitter enemies. Muawia changed 
the character of the caliphate. At Medina it had been an 
elective office; at Damascus it became hereditary in the 
Omayyad Dynasty. Heathen at heart, possessing only 
a veneering of Islamism, these successors of the Prophet 
secularized the Mohammedan organization. During 
their ninety years of rule (660-750 a.d.) Moslems con- 
quered the rest of North Africa and the southwestern 
half of Spaiu; they surged into France and were turned 
back by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours. The 
armies of this caliphate also carried the conquests east- 
ward to the borders of India and into Turkestan and 
Samarcand beyond the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers. 

During this caliphate Mohammedans came into 
contact with the Kterature and learning of the Greeks, 
which had been cherished in the monasteries of Syria. 

113. Abbasside and Spanish caliphates. — In 750 a.d. 
the house of Omayya was overthrown by Abul-Abbas, 
a descendant of Abbas, an uncle of Mohammed, 
who established the Abbasside caliphate. The caKphs of 



i04 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

this line also formed a dynasty. The success of Abul- 
Abbas forever divided politically the Moslem world, 
for North Africa and Spain never accepted the sover- 
eignty of the Abbassides. Abd-er-Rahman, a scion of 
the Omayyad house, escaped the slaughter visited upon 
his kinsmen and fled to Spain, where he became ruler. 
His descendants established the Spanish caliphate, 
which continued until 1027 a.d. The second of the 
Abbasside caliphs founded the city of Bagdad as a capital 
city. Under the cahphs of both Bagdad and Cordova 
literature and philosophy flourished and the brilliant 
period of Moslem intellectual life began. The Koran 
is everywhere anthropomorphic in its conception of 
God. It insists on the eternity of the unrevealed 
exemplar of itself. The study of philosophy led in 
many quarters to pronounced skepticism on these points. 
Even Mamun, caliph of Bagdad, 813-33 a.d., became 
a philosophical skeptic much to the horror of most of 
the Moslem world. These skeptics were often called 
Mutazilites, or Seceders. 

Before the middle of the tenth century the Bagdad 
caliphs lost their political power. Their empire had 
gradually broken up, dissolving into a number of petty 
political states which have changed many times in the 
lapse of centuries. The Abbasside caliphs continued 
to be the religious heads of Mohammedanism, except 
that in Spain and North Africa their authority was not 
acknowledged until after the fall, in 1171, of the Fati- 
mite caliphate. This caliphate had arisen at Kairwan 
in North Africa in 909 and conquered Egypt in 968. 
The Abbasside caliphs continued to reside at Bagdad 
until 1258 A.D., when they removed to Cairo. When 



MOHAMMEDANISM 105 

Eg3^t was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 
1 5 17 A.D., the last of the Abbasside line sold the 
office of caliph to the Sultan of Turkey, who, since that 
time, has been regarded as the successor of the Prophet. 

114. Missionary efforts. — Throughout its history 
Islam has aimed at making converts. In the course of 
the centuries it has penetrated India, China, Africa, 
and the isles of the Pacific, and has made many converts. 
As it had its birth in a crude civihzation and is in its 
original form a pecuHarly objective faith, it is well 
adapted to the intelligence of the half-savage tribes of 
Africa and other backward lands. It is estimated that 
at present there are about 240,000,000 Mohammedans 
in the world. If this is true, they constitute nearly 
one-sixth of the population of the globe. 

115. The development of Mohammedan law. — 
Mohammed regarded the Koran as God's revealed law 
for both sacred and secular things. In his legal deci- 
sions at Medina he sometimes followed Arabian tribal 
custom and sometimes the precedents of Jewish law. 
Where these failed him, he usually received a special 
revelation which was believed to disclose the divine will 
with reference to the matter in hand. Upon his death 
the revelations ceased; nevertheless, novel situations 
were continually rising. His successors had little diffi- 
culty in cases to which the words of the Koran were 
appHcable, or in cases analogous to those that the 
Prophet had decided. In other cases they had recourse 
to tradition. "The Companions of the Prophet," as 
those who had come in contact with him as faithful 
believers were afterward called, would, in such emer- 
gencies, recall that on such and such an occasion the 



io6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Prophet had said or done so and so. After the death 
of the Companions, the memories of those who had 
known the Companions were drawn upon. They would 
say that they had heard so and so say that on such and 
such an occasion the Prophet said or did thus and so. 
And so the process went on. It must be admitted that 
the Companions and their successors often drew upon 
their imaginations, so that in time the body of traditions 
grew to enormous proportions, containing many items 
that were fictitious. Al-Bokhari, who died in 870 a.d., 
collected and sifted the traditions in his Sahih. He 
rejected many, but his collection contained about 
seven thousand traditions. Other collections were 
made, but that of Al-Bokhari, who possessed great 
critical insight, is the best. Simple tradition did not, 
however, always suffice. In Syria and other territories 
conquered from Byzantium, Moslem courts had taken 
over precedents and principles from the Roman courts 
that they found established there. It accordingly 
became necessary to justify the actual practice of 
Mohammedan tribunals from the Moslem point of view. 
The conditions varied in different parts of Islam. In 
applying the traditions to these conditions four schools 
of law were developed: 

(i) The earliest was that of Malik ibn Anas, a lawyer 
of Medina, who died in 796 a.d. Malik lived in the 
city of the Prophet, and sought to build up a body of 
jurisprudence on the basis of the precedents and tradi- 
tions of the Prophet. He represents a reaction from 
Abu Hanifa, and is the exponent of law based on 
tradition only. He was not careful as to the cor- 
rectness of a tradition, but only of its value in 



MOHAMMEDANISM 107 

legal practice. His system is still followed in North 
Africa. 

(2) A second school was that of Abu Hanifa, a resi- 
dent of Kufa, a man of Persian birth, who died in 767 a.d. 
He was a lecturer on law — a speculative lawyer, 
rather than a practical jurist. He depended very little 
on the traditions, preferring to go directly to the text 
of the Koran. As this was in most cases inappHcable, 
he introduced the rule of analogy, which was practically 
identical with legal fiction. Even analogy he modified 
by what he called ''holding for the better." Admitting 
that analogy pointed to such and such a rule, he would 
say, "Under the circumstances I hold it better to rule 
thus and thus." He thus made Moslem law so flexible 
that regulations made for the desert need not ruin 
city life. The Ottoman Empire and Orthodox India 
still follow his legal principles. 

(3) A third school of law was founded by Ash- 
Shafi^i, who resided at times in Arabia and at times in 
Egypt, and who died in 820 a.d. In addition to the 
Koran and tradition, both of which he regarded as 
inspired, he introduced the principle of agreement. If, 
for example, Moslem communities were found to follow 
customs for v/hich there was no authority in the Koran 
or traditions, it was assumed that the Moslem commu- 
nities had agreed that such practices were right. As 
the first caliphs had attached weight to the agreement 
of the Companions of the Prophet, so Ash-Shafi'i made 
the agreement of Mohammedan communities a source 
of authority. Ash-Shafi'i also held that in drawing an 
analogy between a rule of the Koran and any particular 
case the reason lying behind the Koranic rule should be 



io8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE W^ORLD 

taken into account. On the principles of Ash-Shafi'i 
any law or custom could be adopted and naturalized in 
Mohammedan law. The jurists of the Dutch protec- 
torates still follow the principles of Ash-Shafi'i. 

(4) A fourth school was formed by the disciples of 
Ahmad ibn Hanbal of Bagdad, who died in 855 a.d. 
He was a resident of Bagdad, who revolted against the 
rationalism of the ninth-century caliphs there. He 
swerved to literal traditionalism, suffered severe perse- 
cution, and was regarded by his disciples as a saint. He 
developed Moslem law in no way, his influence being 
wholly reactionary. His followers in modern Islam are 
few and are found chiefly in Arabia. 

116. Sects. — Mohammedan sects are almost as 
numerous and varied as the sects of the Christian 
church. Attention can be given here only to the 
most important. The Karejites (Khawagri), or ''Come- 
outers," were a group that grew up in the early days of 
Islam. They were radical reformers, and sought to 
establish a theocracy, urging that a pious man of what- 
ever tribe or nation might be called to the caliphate. 
They, too, afterward broke up into many minor sects. 
The greatest cleavage in Islam is, however, that between 
the Shiites and Sunnites. 

(i) The Shiites had their origin at the end of the 
caliphate of Medina and were the outgrowth of a group 
that had been discontented ever since the Prophet's 
death. This group had held that the first three caliphs 
were interlopers; that the Prophet desired Ali, the hus- 
band of Fatima, to be his successor. When Ali became 
caliph after the assassination of Othman, Muawia 
resisted him, professing to be an avenger of the murdered 



MOHAMMEDANISM 109 

Othman. AH fought him for a time, but was finally 
persuaded to refer the dispute to arbitration. The 
decision went against AH, and the Karejites were so 
disgusted with him that one of them assassinated him. 
His eldest son Hasan was regarded for a time by a 
small coterie as caHph, but was poisoned in 669. His 
other son, Hosein, eleven years later headed an insur- 
rection against the Omayyad caHph Yezid and was 
killed in battle. The slaughter of AH and his sons, 
descendants of the Prophet, at the hands of Moslems 
seemed to the Shiites the greatest outrage. The 
Sluites were at first largely of the Persian race, and 
the Persians are stiU Shiites. Of Aryan stock, they 
believe more easily than the Semites in incarnations. 
The tragic deaths of AH and his sons led them to regard 
these heroes as almost divine. Their tombs are to this 
day sacred shrines to the Shiite sects, and passion-plays 
stiU keep alive the memory of their sufferings. Among 
all the Shiites, AH is regarded as an incomparable 
warrior, concerning whose prowess the most extraor- 
dinary legends are told. They regard him also as a 
saint whose miracles equal those of the prophets. In 
contrast with the Shiites are the Sunnites, or tradi- 
tionaHsts, or those who follow the ordinary traditions 
of Islam and who recognize the legitimacy of the first 
four caHphs. The Turks are Sunnites. The Shiites 
have broken up into many sects, among whom the 
Nusari and the Ali-ilahi believe AH to be an incarnation 
of God. The Nusari beHeve him to be the first of the 
three persons of the Trinity. The Shiites have a tend- 
ency to adopt Aryan types of mysticism, which some- 
times strain their monotheism almost to the breaking 



no THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

point. According to the more general Shiite view Ali 
and his two sons were imams, or divinely appointed 
leaders, who were succeeded for a time by other imams. 
Some of the sects regard the imams as Nuqat, or "Points " 
of divine manifestation. Some Shiites hold that there 
were seven imams, others twelve. Both agree that the 
last im^m did not die, but is concealed, awaiting the 
proper time for his full manifestation. 

(2) The Ismailites, or "Seveners,^* were a Persian 
sect of Shiites, who believed that Ismail, who had been 
adopted by Abd-AUah ibn Maimun, the sixth ima^n, 
upon the death of the latter in 766 a.d. became the 
seventh and last imam. They believed in reality in a 
system of incarnations by sevens. In this system Ismail 
was the forty-ninth incarnation. 

(3) The Druses. — In the eleventh century Darazi, 
an Ismailian, went to Eg3^t and persuaded the Fatimite 
caliph Hakim that the caliph as a descendant of Ah was 
an incarnation of God. After the disappearance of 
Hakim, who appears to have been insane, Darazi went 
to Syria and taught. He was opposed in some tenets 
by one Hamzah, whose opinions finally prevailed among 
the followers of Darazi. It thus happens that Darazi 
is counted a heretic by the sect which bears his name. 
This sect is now known as the Druses and is quite 
numerous in the neighborhood of the Lebanon Moun- 
tains and in the Hauran to the east of the Sea of Galilee. 

(4) The Assassins is a name given by Europeans to 
another of the Ismailian sects. This sect made much 
of the doctrine of imams. It spread to Syria in the time 
of the Crusaders, and its leader, Rashid ed-Din Sinan, 
"the Old Man of the Mountain," who claimed to be 



MOHAMMEDANISM ill 

not only an imam but an incarnation of Deity, was for 
many years the terror of the Lebanon. The Assassins, 
with many other IsmaiHans, held to the "inner meaning" 
of the Koran rather than to its outward form, and could 
thus set aside its obvious precepts. A band of disciples 
was ever ready to assassinate those marked out by the 
head of the order for death. 

(5) Bahism and Bahaism. — On May 23, 1844, Mirza 
Ah Mohammed, a merchant of Shiraz in Persia, an- 
nounced that he was the Bab, or gate through which 
men might hold communion with the concealed imam. 
Later he declared himself to be an incarnation of God. 
The claim was admitted by a number of enthusiastic 
followers, some of whom suffered martyrdom for the 
behef. The Bab was martyred at Tabriz, July 9, 1850. 
Bahaullah, one of the Bab's followers, proclaimed him- 
self in 1866-67 '*He whom God manifests." He claimed 
that the Bab had foretold his coming, being simply his 
forerunner. The followers of Bahaullah are called 
Bahis. After the Bab was put to death his followers 
fled to Bagdad, whence some years later the Turkish 
government removed them to Adrianople. It was here 
that Bahaullah proclaimed himself — an act which caused 
schism and bloodshed among the Babists. In conse- 
quence of this the Bahaites were removed to Akka in 
Palestine, and the Babists to Cyprus. The Babists 
soon dwindled in numbers and influence, while the 
Bahaites have increased in importance, and have carried 
on a somewhat successful propaganda in the United 
States. 

117. Scholastic theologians. — As Moslems imbibed 
the principles of Greek philosophy, there were a number 



112 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

who began to apply these principles to the Koran 
and the articles of the Moslem faith. They were 
called Mutazilites, or Seceders, and were numerous and 
popular among the Shiites. The first of a long Hne of 
scholastic theologians who opposed the Mutazilites and 
endeavored to justify the tenets of Islam by the use of 
reason was Al-Ashari, who died in 933. He was of 
Arab stock, but, according to tradition, brought up by 
a MutaziKte stepfather. He was himself a Mutazilite 
until he was forty years of age, when he underwent a 
conversion to orthodox views. His conversion has given 
rise to several legends. He devoted the rest of his life 
to the defense of the Koran and the traditions — a task 
for which his previous education peculiarly fitted him. 
No one with sufficient intellectual equipment had before 
undertaken it. He handled the questions with great 
acuteness, and in one respect (the definition of what 
a thing is) he anticipated Kant. 

The greatest of all the Mohammedan theologians was, 
however, Al-Ghazali, who was born in 1059 and died in 
1 109. He was the St. Augustine of Islam. He com- 
bined great philosophical abiHty with a profound type of 
mystical piety. During his earlier years he was a pupil 
of Mutazilite teachers, and at one time became a 
thorough skeptic. After this he experienced a con- 
version so remarkable that it is quoted by William 
James in his Varieties of Religious Experience. During 
his closing years he was a Sufi or mystic, as well as a 
defender of the faith. There was a tenderness and charity 
about all his judgments of others that is very winning. 

In philosophy Al-GhazaH, like Hume, was a thorough 
skeptic. He held that we can know the cause of nothing. 



MOHAMMEDANISM 113 

We only know that events succeed one another; whether 
one is caused by the other is a matter beyond our ken. 
All our knowledge is due to revelation, whether in the 
religious or in the scientific sphere. According to him 
existence has three modes. The first is the world that 
is apparent to the senses; it exists by the power of 
God and is in constant change. Then there is the 
unseen, eternal universe that exists by God's eternal 
decree, without development and without change. 
Between these is an intermediate universe, which seems 
externally to belong to the first, but in respect of the 
power of God really belongs to the second. Al-Ghazali 
refused to allegorize the Koran, but, holding that angels, 
the Koran, Islam, and Friday are not corporeal realities, 
but actual existences in the unseen, eternal universe, 
he avoided the crass concreteness of much of Moslem 
thought. In dogmatic theology Al-Ghazali resembled 
Albrecht Ritschl. He rejected metaphysics and opposed 
the influence of any philosophical system on his theology. 
Theology must be based on religious phenomena, simply 
accepted and correlated. Like Ritschl, he laid stress 
on the value for us of a piece of knowledge. Al-Ghazali led 
Islam back to reality in rehgion. He would have been 
called in Christianity a biblical theologian. He combined 
with his genuine attachment to the Koran and traditions 
a genuine piety and reHgious experience.^ He is probably 
the most influential figure in Islam after Mohammed. 
118. Modern reactionary sects. — Arabia, always 
largely untouched by outside influences, produced in the 

^ This statement of Al-Ghazali's thought is based on D. B. Mac- 
donald's "Life of Al-Ghazali," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 
XX, 71-132. 



114 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

eighteenth century in the person of Abd-al-Wahab, a 
native of the Negd, who died in 1787, a reactionary 
reformer. It was his aim to restore Islam to its primi- 
tive purity, and to lop off all later accretions. He was 
the founder of the Wahabites, who take the Koran 
literally, and follow the legal maxims of Ibn Hanbal. 
The movement soon produced a dynasty that early in 
the nineteenth century ruled all of Arabia. The poHtical 
power has vanished and Wahabism has become, as at 
the first, a religious sect. It doubtless had some influ- 
ence upon Mohammed ibn Ali as-Sanusi, who in 1837 
founded the Brotherhood of as-Sanusi for the purpose 
of reforming and spreading the Mohammedan faith. 

119. The mystics. — The unseen world has always 
been very real to Mohammedans and has always seemed 
very near. From the earliest times there has been an 
element in Islam which was repelled by traditional 
teaching and intellectual reasoning. Such persons often 
became ascetics, and sought by mortifying the flesh to 
commune with God through direct vision. Such persons 
are called Sufis, from sufi, ''wool," because in the early 
days they wore rough woolen garments. The tendency 
to asceticism has led to the organization of numerous 
religious orders and to a great variety of types of thought. 
The orders are often called "dervishes," from a Persian 
word meaning ''seeking doors." The term is now not 
restricted to mendicant orders. Some of the mystics 
came under the influence of Greek mystical writings, 
and are scarcely to be distinguished from pantheists. 
Others, like the Christian Gnostics, exalt knowledge. 
Others simply accept God's immanence in the world and 
exalt the life in God. Ascetic and mystic sects have 



MOHAMMEDANISM 115 

flourished among the Berbers of North Africa. One of 
these, the Al-Morabits (Ahnoravides), or "Monastics," 
established a dynasty which conquered Spain in 1087, 
and was overthrown by the Al-Mohads, a d)niasty 
founded by another fanatical Berber sect. The Mohads 
were founded by Ibn Tumart, a pupil of Al-Ghazali, 
who emphasized the unity, tawhid, of God. Tawhid, 
however, as he employed it, stood for the spirituaHty 
of God. 

While often leading to pohtical consequences, asceti- 
cism and mysticism have opened the way in Islam to the 
rehgious life as a vocation for both men and women. 
While much that is bizarre and fanatical, and even 
demoralizing, has found expression in these orders, they 
have helped to keep the rehgious life of Islam in touch 
with reahty, and have been one of the means of so diver- 
sifying Islam that it could meet a great variety of 
rehgious needs. 

120. Estimate of Islam. — Mohammedanism began 
as the religion of a semibarbarous people. Though a 
great advance upon the Arabian heathenism which it 
displaced, it appeals, in its primitive form, essentially 
to backward peoples. Though Mohammed endeavored 
so to fetter it that progress would be impossible, the 
genius of the best Mohammedan thinkers has been able 
to find avenues of expansion and to make Islam a fairly 
exalted religion. The varieties of Islamic thought rival 
those of Christianity, and the number of its mystical 
sects surpasses that of Christianity. Much must be 
conceded to a religious system that commands the devo- 
tion of nearly one-sixth of the population of the globe, 
even if it must be recognized that it is not the natural 



ii6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

instrument for the expression of the religious feeling of 
the most refined. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 107: cf. S. M, Zwemer, Arabia the Cradle of Islam (New 
York and Chicago, 1900), chaps, i and ii. 

On sees. 108-10: cf. Sir William Muir, Mahomet and Islam 
(London, 1895); or A. Oilman, The Saracens (New York 
and London, 1887), chaps, iv-xxii. 

On sees. 111-13: A. Gilman, The Saracens (New York and 
London, 1887), chaps. xxiii-xH; S. Lane-Poole, The Moors 
in Spain (New York and London, 1891); or Ameer AH, 
A Short History of the Saracens (London, 1899). 

On sec. 114: cf. D. B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam (New York, 
191 1), chap. viii. 

On sec. 115: cf. D. B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology, Juris- 
prudence, and Constitutional Theory (New York, 1903), 
pp. 65-118. 

On sees. 116, 118: cf. D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammedanism 
(London), chap, v, and "Assassins," "Babis and Bahais," 
and "Druses," in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
Ethics; or I. Goldziber, Mohammed and Islam (New Haven, 
191 7), chap. V. 

On sec. 117: cf. D. B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology, Juris- 
prudence, and Constitutional Theory (New York, 1903), 
pp. 186-242. 

On sec. 119: cf. R. A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (London, 
19 14); or D. B. Macdonald, Religious Attitude and Life in 
Islam (Chicago, 1909), Lectures VI, VII; or D. B. Mac- 
donald, Aspects of Islam (New York, 191 1), Lectures V, VI. 

CLASS B 

D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammedanism in the "Home University 
Library." 



CHAPTER VII 
ZOROASTRIANISM 

Ahura Mazdah, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material 
world, thou Holy One! — Vendidad ii, i. 

1 conceived of thee, O Mazdah, in my thought that thou, the 
First, art also the Last — that thou art Father of Good Thought, 
for thus I apprehended thee with mine eye — that thou didst truly 
create Right, and art Lord to judge the actions of Hfe — ^Yasna 
xxxi, 8. 

I will speak of the Spirits twain at the first beginning of the 
world, of whom the hoKer thus spake to the enemy: Neither 
thought nor teachings nor wills nor beliefs nor words nor deeds 
nor selves nor souls of us twain agree. — ^Yasna xlv, 2. 

All the pleasures of life which thou boldest, those that were, 
that are, and that shall be, O Mazdah, according to thy good will 
apportion them. Through Good Thought advance thou the 
body, through Dominion and Right at will. — ^Yasna xxxhi, 10. 

It is they, the Hars, who destroy Hfe, who are mightily deter- 
mined to deprive matron and master of the enjoyment of their 
heritage, in that they would pervert the righteous, O Mazdah, 
from the Best Thought. — ^Yasna xxxii, 11. 

In immortaUty shall the soul of the righteous be joyful, in 
perpetuity shall the torments of the liars. All this doth Mazdah 
Ahura appoint by his Dominion. — ^Yasna xlv, 7. 

121. Persia is geographically a great tableland or 
plateau. This was called Iran and extends beyond the 
borders of modern Persia into Afghanistan on the east. 
The area of this elevated region is nearly one-fifth of the 
United States of America. Momitains bound it on 
nearly every side, opening only through rocky passes. 

T17 



Ii8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Frequently they stretch far into the interior. While 
parts of this tableland are well watered, it has no rivers 
worthy of the name. Most streams are absorbed by 
the soil before they reach an outlet. In many portions 
of the land irrigation is a necessity, if crops are to be 
wrung from the arid wastes. Nevertheless the soil 
responds readily to tillage. It is natural that in such a 
coimtry irrigation should become synonymous with 
righteousness, as it was in the Zoroastrian religion, 
and that agriculture should be regarded as a rehgious 
duty/ 

122. The people of Iran, as we know them in history, 
belonged to the Aryan branch of the Indo-European stock. 
At some remote period their ancestors had lived on the 
great plain to the north of the Hindu Kush Mountains 
side by side with the ancestors of the Aryans of India. 
At what date they migrated into Parthia, Media, 
Persia, etc., we cannot now determine. Aryan names 
are found among the Mitanni of the upper Euphrates 
Valley and among the Hittites of Boghaz Kui about 
1400-1300 B.C. Among the Mitanni the names of Mitra, 
Indra, and Varuna, Aryan gods, are found during the 
same period.^ It seems probable that the Mitannians 
and Hittites were a mixture of races, but the presence 
of these gods, which appear also in India, prove that 
there were Aryans among them. Whether the migra- 
tion of Aryans into India and Persia occurred before or 
after 1400 B.C. it is impossible at present to determine. 

' Compare A. V. W. Jackson, Persia, Past and Present (New York, 
1906), pp. 23 f. 

■See Winckler, Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 
No. 35 (1907), p. SI. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 119 

The most that we can say is that the Medes were in the 
region of Media in the ninth century B.C., for in the 
year 836 B.C. Shahnaneser III of Assyria invaded their 
land.^ It seems probable that by this time the Aryan 
stock had penetrated those parts of Iran in which we 
find them in later times. 

The struggle with nature in this elevated tableland 
produced an efficient, practical people, not imlike the 
ancient Romans in their general characteristics. Their 
kinsmen of India became in the milder Indian climate 
contemplative, speculative, mystical. The Persians 
remained to the end active and alert, more deeply 
interested in objective reaHties than in metaphysical 
speculations. On this accoimt the religion of Zoroaster 
was very different from the religions of India. 

123. The sources of our knowledge of the rehgion of 
Zoroaster are extant portions of the Avesta,* collected 
probably in the last period of the Achaemenian Dynasty 
after 400 B.C., and the Pahlavi- texts, the most important 
of which is the Bundahishn. These were collected during 
the Sasanian Dynasty (220-641 a.d.) and the centuries 
immediately following, having been edited not later than 
881 A.D. The Pahlavi writings bear about the same 
relation to the Avesta that the Talmud does to the Old 
Testament, or the patristic writings to the New Testa- 
ment, though the analogy is not quite complete, since it 
is probable that in parts of the Bundahishn lost portions 
of the Avesta are reproduced in a late form. The 
Avesta consists of three parts, the Vendidad, the Yashts, 

* See Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, I, 143. 
*The etymology of the name Avesta, despite proposed explanations 
such as "knowledge," or again "text," or the like, remains uncertain. 



I20 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

and the Yasna. These are not all of the same age. 
The oldest portion is Yasna xxviii-liii, hymns that are 
called Gathas, written in a very old dialect. It is 
generally agreed that these are as old as Zoroaster 
himself, and contain, besides his own words, as sage, 
seer, and religious teacher, our most authentic informa- 
tion about the prophet. 

These seventeen psalms form an especially sacred part 
of the A vesta. They are called ''holy" in the later 
texts. Like the Hebrew Psalms, they are collected into 
five groups named the ''Five Gathas." Throughout 
them runs the tone of a prophet proclaiming a faith not 
known before. 

The other parts of the Avesta contain material that 
is undoubtedly old, though later in form of redaction. 
The Visperad and the liturgical Yasna, which contains 
litanies for the sacrifice, may be later than the Gathas, 
but in the Yashts there is much that dates back to 
antique times. It is in a measure pre-Zoroastrian. 

The Yashts are poetic expressions of the mythology 
and historical legends of ancient Iran, and represent, it 
has been conjectured, the popular religious beHefs which 
the prophet opposed, but was unable to suppress, and 
which, after his death, found a place among the sacred 
writings.^ The Vendidad is a compilation of ritual laws 
and of mythical tales possibly of non- Aryan origin.^ 
It is the Book of Leviticus of Zoroastrianism. It has 
been conjectured that this ritual was introduced by the 
Magi at the end of the Achaemenian period, i.e., between 
405 and 331 B.C. At any rate, it reproduces old Iranian 

'See J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism (London, 1913), p. 182. 
» So Moulton, ihid., p. 183. 



ZOROASTRIANISM I2I 

material, which probably represents the attitude of 
Zoroaster as little as the Levitical laws represent that 
of the prophet Amos. 

The term '^Bundahishn" means "creation of the be- 
ginnings" or "original creation." The work is a collec- 
tion of fragments relating to cosmogony, mythology, 
and legendary history. It is compiled in the Pahlavi 
dialect, that stage in the development of the Persian 
language when the older inflectional endings had been 
dropped and before the modern Persian alphabet had 
been introduced. Its legendary history contains ac- 
counts of Zoroaster's life. 

124. The Iranian religion before Zoroaster was 
clearly a type of polytheism kindred to that of the Vedas. 
Mithra, a sun-god kindred to the Vedic Mitra, was 
widely worshiped, as was Ahura, who corresponds to the 
Vedic Asura, and the Greek Ouranos,^ and was appar- 
ently originally a sky-god. Varuna is sometimes called 
Asura (the Sanskrit form of Ahura), which means 
''lord." Ahura appears to have been called among the 
Persians, even before the time of Zoroaster, Ahura 
Mazdah, the Wise Lord, for his name appears in a Hst of 
gods compiled for the library of Ashurbanipal, king of 
Assyria (668-626 B.C.), where it occurs near that of an 
Elamite deity.* As this inscription was written before 
Zoroaster began to preach, it affords positive proof of the 
existence of Ahura Mazdah as a pre-Zoroastrian divinity. 
The prominence of fire even in the reHgion of Zoroaster 

'See M. Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda (New York, 1908), 
pp. 136 ff. 

" See H. Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, III 
(London, 1870), p. 66, col. IX, 24; cf. also F. Hommel in the Proceedings 
of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, XXI (1899), 127, 132. 



122 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

indicates that the Iranians reverenced a fire-spirit 
kindred to the Indian Agni. That these gods were 
related to those of India is further shown by the promi- 
nence of Haoma, the Vedic Soma (an intoxicating 
drink), in their cults — a feature that later found its way 
back into Zoroastrianism/ In later tradition Haoma 
was thought to be an angel with whom Zoroaster once 
conversed. Together with these deities many daevas 
were feared. In later times these were regarded as 
demons, but before Zoroaster they may have been 
reverenced as gods, since the corresponding word deva 
in Sanskrit means god. This is, however, uncertain. 

The conditions of existence on the elevated plains 
of Iran colored the religious thought of the people. It 
was not easy for the agricultural communities to wrest 
the means of subsistence from an arid soil that must be 
continually irrigated. From the sterile steppes, espe- 
cially from Turan (Turkestan) to the north, unsettled 
nomads were ever ready to swoop down and plunder the 
crops and cattle of Iran. The world naturally seemed 
to them, because of this, a struggle between good and 
evil — between light and darkness. All that promoted 
agriculture and the raising of cattle was good; whatever 
destroyed these was evil. As time passed, this view of 
the universe was intensified. 

125. Life of Zoroaster. — The Gathas, our only con- 
temporary source, are religious hymns. They contain 
no biography of Zarathushtra or Zoroaster, and the tra- 
ditions in later documents are conflicting. It seems 

^ See, for example, Yasht xxiii of the Avesta in F. Max Miiller, 
Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXIII, and Yasna ix, 1-16, ibid., 
Vol. XXXI. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 123 

certain that Zoroaster was bom in Iran, but whether in 
Bactria or Media it is difficult to say. Professor Jackson 
favors the view that he was bom in Atropatene in the 
neighborhood of Lake Urumia/ Little is known of his 
early life. According to tradition he retired from the 
world when about twenty years of age, giving himself 
for a number of years to religious meditation. During 
these years he fought out the fight of his own faith and 
doubtless began the formulation of the general truths of 
his religious system. When about thirty the revelation 
came to him. In a vision that was repeated thrice in one 
day he was admitted to the presence of Ahura Mazdah^ 
in heaven, and the Supreme Being himself instructed 
Zoroaster, by the Omniscient Wisdom, in the doctrines 
of the faith. Upon returning to earth Zoroaster began 
to preach to the ruling priests the new rehgion — the 
worshiping of Mazdah, the anathematizing of demons, 
the glorification of the archangels, and the marriage of 
the next of kin. 

During the next seven or eight years he was granted 
six more visions, in which each of the archangels 
appeared to him: Vohu Manah, or ''Good Thought"; 
Asha Vahishta, or "Perfect Righteousness"; Khsha- 
thra Vairya, or "Wished-for Kingdom"; Spenta 
Armaiti, a feminine personification of harmony and the 
earth; Haurvatat, ''Health" or "Salvation"; and 

^ Cf. A. V. W. Jackson, Zoroaster the Prophet of Ancient Iran, 
pp. 16-22. No certain account of the prophet's life or the early develop- 
ment of the reHgion is possible. The account given in the text is con- 
fessedly conjectural, though based on legends which may have had 
facts behind them, since Zoroaster was a historical personage. 

* Spelled also in Pahlavi as Auharmazd and in later Persian as 
Ormiizd. 



124 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Ameretat, or "Immortality." In Zoroaster's thought 
these six personified qualities, or institutions, became the 
chief attendants and agencies of Ahura Mazdah. Possi- 
bly he substituted them for spirits which the earlier 
heathenism had associated with Ahura, for in the list of 
Ashurbanipal, Ahura Mazdah is referred to in connection 
with the seven Igigi, or spirits of heaven. For ten 
years Zoroaster presented his doctrine in vain at court 
after court of the petty rulers of Iran and Turan. But 
one disciple had been won, Maidyoi-maonha, Zoroaster's 
cousin. At the end of this period of preaching and com- 
munion with the powers of heaven Zoroaster underwent 
a severe temptation. 

In the eleventh year of his mission Zoroaster sought 
out the court of a certain Vishtaspa (Hystaspes), where 
he spent two years trying to convert the monarch. Of 
course he met with much opposition, but finally he was 
successful, and Vishtaspa became a disciple and a cham- 
pion of the faith. His court followed the example of 
the ruler, and the subjects of the realm came into out- 
ward conformity. The conversion of Vishtaspa changed 
the whole outlook of Zoroastrianism. The prophet was 
no longer a lonely preacher; he had now a powerful 
royal patron who could back the appeal of the new 
religion with force of arms. 

If we follow the traditional chronology of the life of 
Zoroaster, as Professor Jackson is inclined to do, the 
prophet was born about 660 B.C. His preaching began 
about 630 B.C., and, when Vishtaspa was converted in 
618 B.C., Zoroaster was forty- two years old. The same 
tradition says that he lived to be seventy-seven years 
old. If this be true, his ministry continued thirty-five 



ZOROASTRIANISM 125 

years after the conversion of Vishtaspa. During these 
years various sages are reputed to have come to the 
court of Vishtaspa in order to refute Zoroaster, and to 
have been converted by him. The chief of these was 
the Brahman Cangranghacah. Perhaps the story of 
this Brahman is historical, though those relating to 
Greek conversions are doubtless apocryphal. 

According to traditions Vishtaspa was compelled to 
fight two wars in consequence of the new rehgion. These 
wars were fought with Arejat-aspa (Arjasp), a Turanian, 
who invaded Vishtaspa's kingdom from the north. The 
first invasion of Arejat-aspa resulted in the complete 
defeat of the unbelievers. This was accomplished 
through the heroism of a gallant crusader of the faith, 
Isfendiar, who was rewarded for his valor with the hand 
of Vishtaspa's daughter. Between the first holy war and 
the second a considerable period elapsed. Jamasp is 
said to have written down the teachings of Zoroaster 
and the scriptures were circulated even to distant lands. 
Isfendiar, who had expected to succeed the monarch, 
was thrown into prison through the jealousy of another 
prince. While Vishtaspa was absent in Seistan, Arejat- 
aspa again invaded the kingdom. There was only his 
aged father Lohrasp to defend it. He was unequal to 
the task. The kingdom was overrun and Zoroaster 
slain. This was, on the traditional chronology, in the 
year 583-582 B.C. The Iranians were beleaguered on a 
lonely height and all seemed to be lost, when Isfendiar 
was released from prison and saved the day. Jamasp is 
said to have been the prophet's first successor. 

126. Teachings. — Zoroaster was a practical mono- 
theist. In his thought Ahura Mazdah was the One 



126 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Supreme Deity. He appears to have taken this god 
from among those revered by his Aryan ancestors and 
to have done for him what Amos and the prophets of 
the eighth century did for Yahweh. To him Ahura 
Mazdah was the all-wise Creator, who knows all inex- 
plicable things.^ He knows men's secret sins;* he is 
absolute Lord.^ The absolute, sovereignty of Ahura 
Mazdah was in the present state of the world potential 
only. Though Zoroaster in the Gathas does not have 
much to say of Angra Mainyu, it is nevertheless assumed 
that the spirit of evil is as eternal as Ahura Mazdah him- 
self, and exists independently of him.-* Nevertheless 
Ahura Mazdah will in the end achieve dominion over 
him .5 The agencies employed by Ahura for the accom- 
plishment of his will were the heavenly helpers, Good 
Thought, Perfect Righteousness, Wished-for Kingdom, 
etc., though in the thought of Zoroaster Good Thought 
and Perfect Righteousness are far more important than 
the others. Popular Iranian belief held the animistic 
idea that each person had a guardian spirit or double 
called a Fravashi, which seems to have been analogous 
to the Egyptian Ka. Zoroaster appears to have 
rejected this idea, but he retained an analogous one 
that there is a heavenly ox-soul which bore a similar 
relation to cattle as the Fravashis to men.^ 

Zoroaster proclaimed that Ahura Mazdah demands 
righteousness of men, and that his help is promised to 
those who desire it.^ It is assumed that man is the 

* See Yasna li. 

^ Yasna xxxi, 13. « Yasna xlv, 10, 11. 

3 Yasna xxxi, 21. ' Yasna xxix, i. 

< Yasna xlv, 2. 'Yasna xxxiv, 15; xliii, i. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 127 

arbiter of his own destiny; that he can do right if he 
will. Right is truthfulness, the practice of justice, and 
the fostering of agriculture; wrong is lying, robbery, 
and the destruction of irrigation and cattle. On the 
last day the characters of men will be tried by the ordeal 
of passing through molten metal.^ The righteous, who 
come out unharmed, will be accorded eternal bliss; the 
evil will be assigned to the house of liars forever.* The 
gospel of Zoroaster was characterized by its power of 
abstract thought, as well as by its ethical and practical 
insight. It was distinctly an effort of religious reform. 
The prophet rejected the popular gods as daevas or 
demons,^ and apparently most of the popular religious 
practices. 

127. Under the Achaemenians. — The details of the 
early progress of Zoroastrianism are shrouded in ob- 
scurity. How far the wars of Vishtaspa, the patron of 
the prophet, carried it we have no means of knowing. 
It seems probable, though not certain, that the kings of 
the powerful Achaemenian Dynasty, foxmded by C3n*us 
the Great in 553 B.C., were from the first Zoroastrians. 
It is true that Cyrus in the one inscription of his that 
has come down to us — an inscription written in Baby- 
lonian and found at Babylon'* — speaks of himself as a 
worshiper of the Babylonian god Marduk. This he 
probably did for reasons of state, and he may well have 
thought that all gods were but other names for Ahura. 

' Yasna xxxiv, 4; cf. I Cor. 3: 13: "The fire shall try every man's 
work." 

* Yasna xliii, 5; xlv, 7; xlviii, 7; xlix, 11, i, 2, etc. 
3 Yasna xlviii, i. 

* See G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, p. 385, for a trans- 
lation. 



128 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

That he named his daughter Atossa, the same as Huta- 
osa, the queen of Vishtaspa, has been held to indicate 
that he probably reverenced everything connected with 
the prophet/ Darius I and Xerxes in their inscriptions 
constantly refer to Ahura Mazdah as their god. It is 
true that there is no real certainty that they thought of 
Ahura as Zoroaster thought of him, but they say nothing 
to indicate that they thought of Ahura as only one 
among many deities.^ Apparently Darius was a mono- 
theist. The father of Darius, too, bore the name 
Hystaspes, or Vishtaspa — a fact that creates a probability 
that also in this branch of the Achaemenians Zoroaster 
and his patron were honored.^ 

It seems probable that Zoroastrianism was the 
religion of Persia at this time, for Herodotus, who 
visited the country in the reign of Artaxerxes I, describes 
the rehgion as substantially that represented in the 
Yashts of the Avesta. He says that they worship the 
whole circle of heaven under the name of Zeus. This 
was the Greek way of indicating the equivalent of Zeus. 
It is testimony that Ahura Mazdah, who, as already 
shown, was originally the sky-god, was the chief deity. 
Along with him he says they worshiped the sun (Mithra) ^* 
the moon,^ the earth,^ fire,^ water,^ and the winds,^ as 

' Cf . J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, pp. 88 f. 

2 See the inscriptions of Darius translated in Assyrian and Babylonian 
Literature, edited by R. F. Harper (New York, 1901), pp. 174-93. 

3 See Moulton, ibid. 

< See the Mihir Yasht, Sacred Books of the East, XXIII, 1 19-58, and 
A. J. Camoy, Iranian Mythology (Boston, 1917), pp. 287-88. 

s Ihid., pp. 8, 16, 19. 

« Ibid., pp. 286 ff. * Ibid., pp. 16, 356 f. 

' Ibid., pp. 358 £. ' Ibid., p. 18. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 129 

well as a mother-goddess whom they had borrowed from 
the Semites/ She was the Avestan Anahita.* In the 
Yashts and Sirozas of the Avesta the worship of these 
elements appears in conjunction with Ahura Mazdah and 
the six good spirits: Good Thought, Perfect Righteous- 
ness, etc. ; hence it seems probable that by this time the 
pure ethical teaching of Zoroaster, which was probably 
in advance of the thought of the majority, had been 
fused with much of the earlier heathen practices. 
Among these practices was, apparently, that of main- 
taining the sacred fires. Tradition attributed the 
kindling of some of these to Zoroaster. Except for the 
compromise with older customs Zoroastrianism could 
probably not have survived. In this respect the ex- 
perience of Zoroastrianism was parallel to the rehgion 
of Israel, to Mohammedanism, and even to Christianity. 
A place was found for these additional objects of worship 
by supposing that they were reverenced as creations of 
Ahura. 

Under the Achaemenians the Magi, originally a 
Median tribe,^ gradually attained power through royal 
patronage and became the priests of Zoroastrianism. ^ 
It was probably due to their influence that during the 

^ The passage is Herodotus i. 131. Herodotus confused Mitlira 
with Anahita. 

'Ibid., pp. 52-84, and Moulton, op. cit.j pp. 66, and 238 f. Arta- 
xerxes Mnemon, 405-359 B.C., is the first to mention these new deities 
in inscriptions. 

3 Herodotus i. loi. 

* They came into favor through Cambyses, who appointed one of 
them as his steward (Herodotus iii. 61). They were in disfavor after 
the accession of Darius I, but later Artaxerxes Mnemon became their 
patron, and their triumph was complete. See Berossos as quoted by 
Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks, V, 65. 



I30 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

closing decades of the Achaemenian Djoiasty the Avesta 
was completed by the addition of the Yashts and the 
Vendidad. By these additions the ethical system of 
Zoroaster was grafted into a mass of nature-myths and 
ritual with which it originally had little in common. 
The ritual is as arid as that connected with any Semitic 
religion. 

One other theological addition can be traced — the 
raising of Angra Mainyu to the position of an archfiend. 
Zoroaster, as already pointed out, had recognized that 
at the beginning there were two spirits.' These two 
spirits he described as twins and defined them as the 
Better and the Bad (Angra) in thought, word, and 
action;* it was the Bad Spirit who taught the daevas and 
liars to ruin mankind.^ Beyond this Zoroaster did not 
go, but in the Vendidad, Angra Mainyu, or the Bad 
Spirit, is portrayed as the evil counterpart of Ahura 
Mazdah, who at the time of creation met each beneficent 
creation of Ahura Mazdah by a counter-creation of evil.^ 
Whereas in the thought of Zoroaster, Angra Mainyu was 
apparently thought of as a spirit who could be largely 
ignored, and whose influence could be overcome by 
right-doing, in the Vendidad he had become an active 
and mahgnant devil, whose presence it was necessary to 
banish, along with that of other demons, by powerful 
incantations. 5 

128. Under Greeks and Parthians. — The conquest 
of Persia by Alexander the Great gave the development 
of Zoroastrianism a great check. Greek cities were 

^ Yasna xlv, 2. 

' Yasna xxx, 3. < See Sacred Books of the Easty IV, 4 ff. 

* Yasna xzxii, $. s Ibid., pp. 142 f . 



ZOROASTRIANISM 131 

founded in many parts of Persia. Zoroastrians were no 
longer the ruling caste, and there was a popular move- 
ment in favor of polytheism. Later the Zoroastrian 
countries passed under the sway of Parthia, but this did 
not permanently improve the status of the rehgion. At 
first the Magi were held in high esteem and had much 
influence,^ but later they fell Into disfavor and were 
deprived of power .^ The Parthians were tolerant of all 
religions, and, even if in theory Zoroastrianism was main- 
tained, that which most impressed a foreign observer was 
the worship of Mithra, or the sim,^ and the adoration of 
rivers'* — both features of the cidt of the later Avesta. 
While this may have been the official cult, the people 
worshiped with special ceremonies household gods rep- 
resented by images.^ Josephus calls these "ancestral," 
and it was doubtless an old cult that Zoroastrianism had 
never suppressed. In spite of these disintegrating influ- 
ences the religion maintained itself and the sacred fires 
were kept burning during the five hundred and fifty 
years from the conquest of Alexander to the estabhsh- 
ment of the second Persian empire under the Sasanian 
Dynasty in 220 a.d. 

129. The Sasanians, who were intensely patriotic 
Persians, regarded Zoroastrianism as their ancestral faith 
and inaugurated an enthusiastic revival of it. The 
sacred Avesta was not only copied and studied, but, 
since in the lapse of centuries the inflections of spoken 

»Strabo, XI, ix, 3. 

' Agathias ii. 26. 

' Herodian iv. 30. 

< Justin xK. 3. 

s Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, ix, 5. 



132 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Persian had so worn away that the language of the Avesta 
was no longer understood, paraphrases in the vernacular 
were circulated. Such paraphrases were also necessary 
because in the Sasanian period an alphabet was in use 
different from that employed in the Avesta. The para- 
phrases of the Sasanian time, like the Jewish targums 
to some of the biblical books, were often free reproduc- 
tions into which much new material was woven. Such 
texts are known as Pahlavi-texts — Pahlavi being the 
name of the writing of this period. It is generally ac- 
cepted that ''Pahlavi" is a corruption of "Parthian." 
While the Pahlavi-texts were based on the Avesta, and 
are believed in parts to preserve the substance of Avestan 
books that are now lost, they represent the final doc- 
trinal development of Zoroastrianism. To the doctrine 
of this period we shall presently return. Under some of 
the Sasanians Zoroastrianism became again a militant 
religion. At times it was propagated by the sword. 
Oiie king actually imposed it for a time on the Arme- 
nian Christians.^ The four hundred years of Sasanian 
supremacy witnessed the last triumph of this faith. 

130. Since the Mohammedan conquest Zoroastrian- 
ism has declined. Under the early caliphs Zoroastrians 
were, with Jews and Christians, accorded the privilege 
of retaining their religion and paying a head tax, since 
they, too, were ''people of a book" (i.e., possessed 
scriptures). Later they were denied this exemption. 
Until the ninth century they appear to have flourished, 
since Pahlavi-texts were written in considerable numbers 
until then, but after this they began to decHne. The 
cause is obscure. It. may have been due to the influence 

^ Cf. George Rawlinson, The Seventh Oriental Monarchy, chap, xv 



ZOROASTRIANISM 133 

of fanatical Shiites and to the oppression by Seljuk 
Turks. Two hundred years ago Zoroastrians were esti- 
mated at one hundred thousand in Persia; today they 
number only about ten thousand souls/ 

In the early centuries of Islam, Zoroastrians estab- 
lished themselves in India. Their descendants now num- 
ber about a hundred thousand. They reside chiefly in 
the Bombay presidency and are very prosperous. They 
had become very ignorant of their sacred books, which 
they could read only in imperfect translations, though in 
the last fifty years, through a revival of learning, they 
have revived their religion through a clearer knowledge 
of its sources. Through all the centuries they have 
adhered with considerable fidelity to their ritual. 

131. Final form of the doctrines. — ^The historical 
development of Zoroastrianism from the Gathas to the 
Bundahishn resulted in a theory of the world based on a 
well-defined dualism. The forces of good were led by 
Ahura Mazdah and the six archangels, who were followed 
by many angels and lesser divine beings. The arch- 
angels were, as in the time of Zoroaster, Vohu Manah, 
Asha Vahishta, Khshathra Vairya, Spenta Armaiti, 
Haurvatat, and Ameretat. In the Bundahishn these six 
are called Amesha Spentas ("Immortal Holy Ones")- 
The angels and lesser divine beings are called Yazatas 
("Worshipful Ones"). Mithra and Anahita had in this 
period become angels. Opposed to Ahura Mazdah is 
Angra Mainyu (also called Ahriman) and his hosts. 
The hosts of evil were not so well organized as the hosts of 
good. After Ahriman the demon Aehsma (Daeva)^ 

* Cf. G. F. Moore, History of Religions (New York, 1913), pp. 378 f. 
' See Tobit iii. 17, where he is called Asmodaeus. 



134 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

seems to have been the most prominent. To him were 
given seven powers/ The other arch demons, mentioned 
incidentally in the Avesta, in the Pahlavi-books were 
named Akoman, or Ako Manu ("Bad Thought")? Andar 
(who is no other than the Vedic god Indra),* S6var, 
Nakahed, Tairev, and Zalirik. These six, in some pas- 
sages, form with Angra Mainyu a group antithetic to 
Ahura Mazdah and the Amesha Spentas.^ To many 
other demons proper names and special functions were 
assigned ;"* and in addition many other demons were sup- 
posed to exist. Nevertheless Ahriman was not believed 
to be either eternal or omniscient.^ 

Ahura Mazdah created the world, making first the 
sky, then water, then the earth, plants, animals, and man- 
kind, in the order named.^ The creation occupied a year 
of 365 days, and was divided into six periods of two 
months each.'' When Ahriman rose from the abyss* and 
beheld the work of Ahura Mazdah, he desired to destroy 
it. Ahura Mazdah met him and offered him an opportu- 
nity to co-operate with the good, but Ahriman refused. 
Ahriman was then granted by Ahura Mazdah a period of 
nine thousand years in which to contest the mastery of 
the world,*^ and proceeded to bring evil thoughts into 
men's minds and to mingle disagreeable elements with 
the good works of the Creator. For example, Ahriman 
mingled smoke and darkness with fire." 

' Bundahishn (in Sacred Books of the East, V) xxviii, 15. 

" See chap. viii. 

' Bundahishn i, 27. . ilhid. xxv, i. 

* Ihid. xxviii, 7 f . ' Ihid. i, 9. 

^Ihid. iii, 9, 13. ' Ihid. i, 20. 

^ Ihid. i, 28. " Ihid. iii, 24. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 135 

The nine thousand years just mentioned bring to our 
notice the Zoroastrian theory of the world. According 
to this theory the world-cycle consisted of 12,000 years. 
Of these, 3,000 passed while all creatures were unthink- 
ing and unmoving. This was the spiritual state,^ when 
only the Fravashis existed. This was followed by 3,000 
years of confusion. The confusion was caused by 
Ahriman, but during it Ahura Mazdah created his 
material creatures.^ During the third period of 3,000 
years Ahriman descended to the earth and brought 
evils upon men.^ This was the period of greatest 
distress. The wills of Ahura Mazdah and Ahriman 
were mingled in the world. Toward the end of the 
ninth millennium Zoroaster was born. This last millen- 
nial age is presided over by Zoroaster, whom the 
Bimdahishn regards as divine, and his three posthumous ; 
sons, the last of whom, Soshyans ("Savior" or "Bene-^ 
factor"), will be a kind of Messiah. He will render the 
evil spirit impotent and cause the resurrection of the 
dead."* Ahriman will be disabled and overthrown.^ 
This cycle of 12,000 years may have belonged to primi- 
tive Zoroastrianism. It is clearly based on the con- 
ception of a world-year — a thousand years for each of 
the twelve months. Zoroastrianism looked forward, 
however, to the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazdah, 
just as the Jews looked forward to the ultimate triumph 
of Yahweh and his Messiah. 

Zoroastrians believe in a resurrection of all men. At 
the resurrection a wicked man will be as conspicuous as 

* Bundahislin xxxiv, i. 

' Ibid, i, 23. 4 Ibid, xi, 6 and xxxii, 8. 

3 Cf. ibid, xxxiv, i with iv, i flE. s md. i, 20. 



136 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

a white sheep in a flock of black ones.^ The righteous 
are destined for heaven and the wicked for helL All 
will be tested by passing through molten metal. It will 
seem to the righteous that they are walking in warm 
milk, but to the wicked, that they are walking in molten 
metal forever.^ Relatives will then be reunited with 
the greatest affection,^ and the righteous will be con- 
veyed to paradise and the heaven of Ahura Mazdah.^ 
Hell was thought to be in the midst of the earth, where 
Ahriman pierced it and rushed into it when he first 
attacked it.^ Into hell all the demons will be cast at 
the end of the period of 12,000 years. Then Ahura 
Mazdah, the good Creator, will be completely trium- 
phant and a new and perfect world established for all 
time. 

132. Estimate of Zoroastrianism. — Next to Judaism 
Zoroastrianism is the oldest ethical monotheism in the 
world. Zoroaster was a great religious genius who 
caught something of eternal truth and successfully inter- 
preted it to men. He and his followers were keenly 
alive to the struggle between good and evil. To them 
the world was a great battlefield on which this struggle 
was being fought out. They laid great stress on con- 
duct and demanded a noble ethical life. They had firm 
faith in God as they saw him, faith in man, and faith in 
the ultimate triumph of right and of God. The thought 
and development of Zoroastrianism are in many ways 
parallel to those of Judaism. Some scholars have 
endeavored to show that Zoroastrianism borrowed from 

^ Bundahishn xxx, 10. 

^ Ibid, iii, 27. ^Ibid. xxx, 21. 

3 Ibid, xxx, 20. 5 Jbid. xxx, 27. 



ZOROASTRIANISM 137 

Judaism; others that Judaism borrowed from Zoroas- 
trianism, but no considerable borrowing in either direc- 
tion can be proved. Each religion appears to have 
grasped some truth, and to have developed in its own 
environment independently of the other. Such like- 
nesses as there are came from similarity of conditions 
and the psychological unity of man. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sees. 122, 124: cf. J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism 

(London, 1913), Lectures I, II. 
On sec. 125: cf. A. V. W. Jackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of 

Ancient Iran (New York and London, 1901), passim. 
On sec. 126: cf. J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, pp. 343-90. 
On sec. 127: cf. Jackson and Gray, "The Religion of the 

Achaemenian Kings," Journal of the American Oriental 

Society, XXI (1900), 160-84; L- H. Gray, "Achaemenians" 

in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, I, 69-73 ; 

and J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, Lectures VI, VII. 
On sec. 128: cf. George Rawlinson, Sixth Oriental Monarchy, 

chap, xxiii. 
On sec. 129: George Rawlinson, Seventh Oriental Monarchy, 

chap, xxviii. 
On sec. 130: A. V. W. Jackson, "Zoroastrianism," in the Jewish 

Encyclopedia, XII, 695-97; G. F. Moore, "Zoroastrianism," 

Harvard Theological Review, V, 180-226; or J. H. Moulton, 

Early Zoroastrianism, Lectures IV, V. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions (New York, 1913), chaps, xv, xvi. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 

Thou Indra who Greatest light where there was no light, and 
form, O men! where there was no form, hast been bom together 
with the dawns. — ^Rig-Veda, I, 6, 3. 

Indra speaks: Almighty strength be mine alone, whatever I 
may do daring in my heart; for I indeed, O Maruts,^ am known as 
terrible: of all that I threw down, I, Indra, am lord. — ^Rig-Veda, 

I, 165, ID. 

Protect the dear footsteps of the cattle. O Agni, thou who 
hast a full life, thou hast gone from covert to covert. — ^Rig-Veda, 
I, 67, 6. 

May Vanma, Mitra, Aryaman, triumphant with riches (?), 
sit down on our sacrificial grass as they did on Manu's. — ^Rig- 
Veda, I, 26, 4. 

May we unharmed stand under the protection of Agni, Indra, 
Soma, of the gods; may we overcome our foes. — Rig- Veda, II, 8, 6. 

Your greatness, O Maruts, is to be honored, it is to be yearned 
for like the Hght of the sun. Place us also in immortahty; when 
they went in triumph, the chariots followed. — Rig- Veda, V, 55, 4. 

Slay thou, O Kama, those that are my enemies, hurl them 
down into blind darkness. Devoid of vigor, without sap let 
them all be; they shall not Hve a single day! — ^Atharva-Veda, 
IX, 2, 10. 

There is one eternal thinker, thinking non-eternal thoughts, 
who, though one, fulfils the desires of many. The wise who per- 
ceive him within their Self, to them belongs eternal peace, not to 
others. — Katha-Upanishad, V, 13. 

* The storm-gods. 

138 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 130 

One hundred times that bliss of Prag^pati is one measure of 
the bliss of Brahman, and likewise of the great sage who is free 
from desires. — ^Taittiriyaka-Upanishad, II, 8, 4. 

He who forms desires in his mind, is bom again through his 
desires here and there. But to him whose desires are fulfilled 
and who is conscious of the true Self (within himseM) all desires 
vanish, even here on earth — ^Mundaka-Upanishad, III, 2, 2. 

133. The Land and People. — India, extending from 
8 to 36 degrees of north latitude from the Himalaya 
Mountains far into the Indian Ocean, presents a great 
variety of temperature and climate. It is a great three- 
cornered cotmtry, about 1,000 miles from north to south 
and the same distance from east to west. The student 
of the Vedic religion is, however, chiefly interested in the 
two great river-vaUeys of the Indus and the Ganges. 
The upper part of the valley of the Indus, where the 
rivers are fed by the melting of the everlasting snows on 
the Himalayas and the climate is that of the temperate 
zone, is one of the favored portions of the earth's surface. 
The valley of the Ganges lies farther to the south; it is 
dependent for its fertility to a greater degree upon the 
rains brought by the monsoons ; the climate is not favor- 
able to human life, and the struggle for existence is 
intensely severe. As compared with Persia, Palestine, 
or Arabia, Northern India is a land of fertility. 

From time immemorial India has been populated by 
a variety of tribes. It has become customary in recent 
years to call many of these Dravidian.' Not all the 

' See the article "Dravidian" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion 
and Ethics, V, i ff. The term was first applied by Mann to a tribe of 
Southern India. It has been supposed that he meant to include all of 
them. 



I40 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

aboriginal tribes of India were of one stock, but, so far 
as we can trace them, they appear to have been back- 
ward races. At an unknown date, probably consider- 
ably more than a thousand years before the beginning of 
our era, there came into the upper Indus Valley through 
the passes of the Hindu Kush Mountains some tribes of 
Aryan stock. They were members of the great Indo- 
European race, and before their migration into India had 
Hved with their kinsmen, the ancestors of the Persians, 
somewhere to the north of the Hindu Kush Mountains. 
They spread over the upper part of the valley of the 
Indus. The majority of them lived on the eastern side 
of that river in the region called Punjab, or the five-river 
region. They extended as far east as the Sutlej River. 
In this valley they lived for some centuries; here the 
Vedas were composed. Later, portions of this Aryan 
race pressed on into the valley of the Ganges, and 
it is held by some that the change in their religious 
thought, which we shall trace in this sketch, was due 
in part to the depressing effect of the climate of that 
valley. 

134. The sources of information concerning the 
religion of the early Aryans of India are the Vedas, 
Brahmanas, and Upanishads, all of which are counted as 
Vedic by the people of India. More than a hundred 
books are called Vedas, some of which are Httle known 
to scholars.' The Vedas, properly so called, are the 
Rig- Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. 
The word ''Veda" springs from the same root as the 
English "wit" and the German wissen, and means 
"knowledge," especially "sacred knowledge." The 

» Bloomfield, Religion of the VedCt p. 17. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 141 

oldest of the Vedas is the Rig- Veda — "Rig" being from 
a stem which means "stanzas of praise." It consists of 
a Uttle more than a thousand hymns, containing about 
10,000 stanzas, and equals in bulk the Iliad and Odyssey. 
Not all these poems are "stanzas of praise." Some of 
the later ones are blessings and curses. Six of these 
books (II-VII) are called "family books." They are 
supposed to have been composed by different poets or 
seers, or families of such, each of whom claimed to trace 
his descent from a single seer. They are the earhest 
part of the Veda. 

The Yajur-Veda takes its name from a word meaning 
''formulae in prose." It is later than the Rig- Veda, 
contains many of the same hymns, though with many 
new verses, and adds the formulae mentioned. These are 
sometimes mere dedications, sometimes short prayers, 
and at times long solemn litanies. 

The Sama-Veda takes its name from a word which 
means ' 'melodies " and is the Veda of music. It contains 
no connected hymns, but rather disconnected verses 
borrowed mainly from the Rig- Veda. Some practices 
not found in the other Vedas appear in it. With these a 
number of legends are connected. Even the sense of its 
verses is subordinated to the music. It is devoted 
largely to the worship of Indra. 

The Atharva-Veda is named from one of two ancient 
families of priests who were supposed to understand 
potent charms. It is a collection of 730 hymns, con- 
taining about 6,000 stanzas, a part of which are blessings 
while others are "witchcraft charms" or curses. It is a 
most valuable collection of popular practices, supersti- 
tions, and folklore. 



142 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The Brahmanas are theological treatises attached 
sometimes to the Vedas. They are written in prose and 
deal with the sacrificial ceremonial. They were designed 
to explain the significance of the ceremonial to those who 
were familiar with its details. Sometimes they reveal a 
reflective spirit, unsatisfied with the mere offering of 
animal sacrifices, seeking for union with a spiritual 
being. The theological attitude of the Brahmanas is 
varied, veering from a very practical interest in the 
ritual to theological speculation far beyond the range of 
ritual. 

Closely connected with the last-mentioned side of the 
Brahmanas are the Upanishads, which are sometimes 
counted with the Brahmanas, but really present a new 
religion. Next to the Rig- Veda the Upanishads are the 
most important literary productions of Vedic India. 

135. Chronology. — It is generally agreed that the 
oldest Upanishads were written before the time of 
Gautama, called the Buddha, who died about 487 B.C. 
This seems certain, since the whole Buddhistic system 
of thought presupposes the philosophic conceptions of 
the Upanishads. Beyond this single fact we have no 
chronological datum from the Vedic period. No build- 
ing, or monument, or coin, or jewel, or utensil has 
come down to us from the Vedic time. No ancient 
Indian historian has left us a chronicle or an outline of 
the chronology. It is not strange, therefore, that the 
estimates of scholars have varied widely. Some would 
put the Rig- Veda at 3,000 or 4,000 B.C.; others would 
bring it down to 1,000; advocates of 2,500, 2,000, 1,500, 
and 1,200 have not been wanting. Macdonell supposes 
that the Brahmanas and Upanishads developed in the 



THE RELIGION OF THE \TEDAS 143 

period 8cx>-5oo b.c.^ If this is so, one need not suppose 
that the beginnings of the Rig- Veda antedate 1,500 B.C., 
though they may go back to 2,000. From what we 
know of the appearance of the Hittites* in history, and 
of the beginnings of the Aryan occupation of Iran,^ it 
does not seem probable that the Aryans entered India 
earlier than 2000 B.C., and it may well have been later 
than that. It must, however, be frankly recognized that 
we have no direct evidence on this point. 

136. The social organization represented by the 
Rig- Veda was a simple patriarchal society, niled by 
chieftains called rajas {raja is philologically equivalent to 
the Latin rex), who were often hereditary. In the Rig- 
Veda occupations were not differentiated; every man 
was a soldier as well as a civilian. The family was the 
foimdation of society. The father was lord of the house; 
he was also a priest who offered the sacrifice. The wife, 
though subject to him, occupied a position of greater 
honor than in the age of the Brahmanas, for she partici- 
pated in the offering of the sacrifice. She was mistress 
of the house and shared the control of the children, slaves, 
and immarried brothers and sisters of the husband. 
Suitors asked the father for a daughter's hand, making 
the request through the mediation of a friend. Sons 
and daughters married usually in the order of age, but 
sometimes girls remained unmarried and grew old in 
their father's house. The standard of morahty was 
comparatively high. The community was agricultural. 

' A. H. Macdonell, A History of Sanskrit Literature (New York, 
1900), chap. viii. 

' See Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, chap. iii. 
' See chap, vii, passim. 



144 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The standard of value was a cow. Horses, sheep, goats, 
asses, and dogs were also domesticated. Gold is fre- 
quently referred to, and also bronze. The Indus (ancient 
Sindhu) is frequently mentioned, as are the five rivers of 
the Punjab under ancient names, viz., the Jhelum, 
Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. The sea is never 
mentioned, for the community was confined to the upper 
Indus. 

Later, conquests were made of the aborigines in other 
regions, especially in the valley of the Ganges. In the 
course of the struggles thus entailed, a differentiation of 
occupations occurred, a priesthood, a warrior class, as 
well as an agricultural class, were developed, and the 
caste system came into being. This system was appar- 
ently due in part to the gulf which separated the Aryan 
from the colored race which they conquered, and in part 
to the effort of the priesthood, which had now emerged, 
to maintain its sanctity. 

137. Vedic deities. — The Rig- Veda states that the 
number of gods is thirty-three, or thrice eleven. This 
number is not exhaustive, for it does not include the 
storm-gods. It is nevertheless in excess of the number 
of important deities, for there are scarcely twenty that 
have as many as three hymns addressed to them. 
Several of these gods were brought by the Indian Aryans 
from their home beyond the Hindu Kush. The most 
important of these was Indra, the national god of the 
Indians, who among the Persians was relegated to the 
place of a demon. The importance of Indra is shown by 
the fact that nearly one-fourth of the hymns of the Rig- 
Veda celebrate his praises. Like other early triba,! gods, 
Indra was supposed to fight the national battles. This 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 145 

fighting character he never threw off. Like other fighters, 
Indra is full of brag and bluster. The first two quota- 
tions from the Rig- Veda at the head of this chapter suf- 
ficiently indicate his character and the attitude of his 
worshipers toward him. Indra paid the penalty of his 
early origin. Owing to the conservatism of rehgious 
thought, he never rose to the height of refinement of his 
later worshipers. He does not represent the best religion 
even of the Vedas. He is of the earth, earthy. He slay. 
dragons and monsters; he is a glutton, a dnmkard, and 
a boaster. One hymn' is generally interpreted as 
attempting to utter the vaunting of Indra when intoxi- 
cated with soma. It is the earhest attempt in literature 
to portray the maudlin exhilaration arising from the use 
of alcohol. 

Another prehistoric god of India was Agni, the god of 
fire. The sacredness of fire among the Persians attests 
his antiquity. Next to Indra he is the most popular of 
the Vedic gods. More than two hundred hymns are 
addressed to him. While Agni is personified as a god, 
the consciousness of his origin was never lost. To the 
end all his qualities were quahties of fire. 

Mitra and Varuna are also gods brought from the 
primitive Aryan home, for, as pointed out in chap, vii, 
they were prominent among the Persians also. Mitra 
was a sun-god; Varima probably a sky-god.^ Mitra is 
in the Veda almost submerged as a companion of Varuna. 
Only one hymn is addressed to Mitra alone. Vanma, 
though addressed in far fewer h)nnns than Indra, Agni, 
or Soma, is next to Indra the greatest of the Vedic gods. 

» Rig-Veda, X, 119. 

» See, e.g., Rig-Veda, VII, 86-89. 



146 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

He was thought to be the upholder of the physical and 
moral universe. The hymns addressed to him are more 
devout and ethical than any others in the Veda and 
approach more nearly the strains of the Hebrew Psalter. 
His omniscience is a favorite theme. He witnesses the 
truth or falsehood of men. No creature can wink with- 
out him.' 

Another sky-god, Dyaush pitar, "father Sky," 
appears to go back to pre-Indian days. Both his name 
and epithet are philologically identical with the Greek 
Zeus pater, the Latin Diespiter, or Jupiter. The personi- 
fication of the sky as a god is shown by these correspond- 
ences to go back to primitive Indo-European times. In 
the Vedas, Dyaush is employed both as the name of the 
god and as the word for sky. The origin of the god is 
thus quite transparent. 

Quite as old as Dyaush is his daughter Ushas, the 
Dawn, identical with the Greek Eos (or Beds), and the 
Latin Aurora. Like that of her father, the origin of 
the deity was always clear, and the beauty of the dawn 
inspired the Vedic poets to produce some of their most 
charming creations.^ 

The Agvins, or heavenly twins, who correspond to the 
Dioskouroi of Greek mythology, were also probably pre- 
historic. They, like Ushas, were the children of Dyaush 
pitar. It is not certain whether they were personifica- 
tions of the morning and evening star, or of the sim 
and moon, or of the twilight, half-light, half-dark. 
In the Vedas they are the succorers who aid those in 
trouble. 

^ See, for example, Rig- Veda, VII, 89. 
»/6«/., I, 113. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 147 

Prithivi' matar, or "Mother Earth," who is repre- 
sented as the wife of Dyaush pitar, is perhaps also as 
primitive as he. Only one separate hymn is addressed 
to her in the Rig- Veda, and even in that reference is 
made to her heavenly spouse. 

Another god that would seem to have originated 
before the separation of the ancestors of the Indian 
Aryans from the Persians was Soma, the Persian Haoma. 
In the Yasna,^ Haoma was an angel with whom Zoroaster 
once conversed. Soma was at once a plant and an 
intoxicating drink; it also became a god. In both Veda 
and Avesta it is described as dwelKng or growing on a 
mountain. Its true abode was thought to be in heaven, 
whence it was brought down to earth. Its exhilarating 
power led to the belief that it was a drink that bestows 
everlasting life. From it the gods themselves were 
thought to gain their immortality. Naturally large 
quantities of soma were employed in the ritual; gods set 
men the example of drunkenness. It is a somewhat sad 
comment on Vedic morals, but others, as, for example, 
the Babylonians, believed that their gods were not above 
drunkenness,^ even if they did not deify drink. In the 
latest hymns of the Rig-Veda, Soma is somewhat 
obscurely identified with the moon. 

The ancient people of India manifested a strong bent 
toward the multiplication of gods through the personi- 
fication of the powers of nature, and the multiplication 
of deities through the personification of different epithets 
of the same god. By these means several deities were 

» Rig-Veda, V, 84. Prithivi is literally " the Broad One." 

* Yasna ix, 1-16. 

3 See G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, p. 241. 



148 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

added to the pantheon after the migration into India. 
Thus in the Vedas there are in addition to Mitra four 
sun-gods: Surya, Savitar, Pushan, and Vishnu. In the 
Vedas, Vishnu is not one of the most important gods, 
though he became such in later Hinduism. Similar per- 
sonifications produced Vata or Vayu, the wind-god, Par- 
janya, the rain-god, and Rudra, the storm-god. In the 
Vedas, Rudra is a simple storm-god of no very great 
prominence. In Hinduism he assumed a different role. 
A group of storm-gods, indefinite in number, to whom 
many hymns in the Rig-Veda are addressed, is the 
Maruts. The terrific force of storms in India led to the 
belief that there were many such spirits, and magnified 
their terrifying powers. 

The important Vedic gods have been classified as: 

Celestial gods: Dyaush pitar, Varuna, Mitra, Surya, 
Savitar, Pushan, Vishnu, Ushas, the Agvins, and the 
Adityas, frequently associated with Varuna and Mitra. 

Atmospheric gods : Vata or Vayu, Indra (who is fre- 
quently represented as a kind of storm-god), Parjanya, 
Rudra, and the Maruts. 

Terrestrial gods: Prithivi, Agni, and Soma. 

138. Cosmogony. — In the earlier hymns of the Rig- 
Veda creation is referred to as an act of natural genera- 
tion.' In the later strata of the Rig- Veda we find the 
idea of a creator, or the material of creation, distinct 
from all the gods and superior to them. This creator is 
given various names, Prajapati being one of the most 
important. He was in reaHty a huge man, whom the 
gods cut up as though he were a sacrifice, and from the 
parts made the various portions of the universe. His 

» Rig-Veda, IV, 2, 2, and III, 4, 10. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 149 

head became the sky, his feet the earth, his navel the 
air, while from his eye sprang the sun, from his mind the 
moon, and from his breath the wind/ 

139. The ritual and its purpose. — The hjnnns and 
prayers of the Veda were composed to accompany the 
sacrifices which were offered to the gods. These con- 
sisted of such viands as the worshipers regarded as 
dehcious or necessary. Ghee, or melted butter, and 
soma were prominent elements in them. The purpose 
of the offerings was to propitiate the gods and bring 
them near. Thus one hymn prays:* 

May Vanina, Mitra, and Aryaman, triumphant with riches ( ?), 
sit on our sacrificial grass as they did on Manu's! 

In the earliest time the sacrifices were offered by the 
heads of families, and chieftains offered their own 
sacrifices. There were no temples and no permanently 
holy places. A spot was chosen for a sacrifice and con- 
secrated for the occasion. When the sacrifice was com- 
pleted, the place became again as other places. Before 
the end of the Vedic period, through a natural differen- 
tiation of duties, certain men had assumed the function 
of the priesthood, and others had acquiesced in the 
arrangement. It thus happened that kings often em- 
ployed others to officiate at sacrifices offered by them. 
Nearly all the hymns of the Rig- Veda appear to have 
been written by such priests, who had a pecuniary 
interest in the sacrifice, and who employed their poetry, 
not only to praise the god or gods, but to impress the 
king with the desirabihty of liberally rewarding the 
priest. It thus happens that most frank appeals for 

» Rig-Veda, X, 90. « Ihid,, I, 26, 4. 



15© THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

haksheeshy or a gift, are mingled by the singers with 
beautiful descriptions of the gods, and with genuine 
religious appeals. Dakshina is the Sanskrit term for 
"sacrificial fee." In the following translations by 
Bloomfield^ it is rendered ''baksheesh." 

Up the shining strands of Dawn have risen, 

Like unto glittering waves of water! 

All paths prepareth she that they may be easily traversed; 

Liberal goddess, kind, she hath become baksheesh. 

And again :^ 

Baksheesh's roomy chariot hath been harnessed, 
And the immortal gods have mounted on it, 
The friendly dawn, wide-spread, from out of darkness 
Has risen up to care for the abode of mortals. 

The mighty goddess rose before all creatures. 
She wins the booty and always conquers riches; 
The dawn looks forth, young and reviving ever, 
She came the first here to our morning offering. 

For a time so early the poetry is beautiful. As Bloom- 
field remarks: "Never has sacrifice had such genuine 
poetry to serve it. But the reverse of the coin is that 
never has poetic endowment strayed so far from whole- 
some theme as to fritter itseK away upon the ancient 
hocus-pocus of the fire priest and the medicine-man." 

140. Vedic salvation. — ^Notwithstanding that the 
priests made the ritual and the poetry fill their own 
pockets, the Veda voices many an appeal for salvation 
as the people of that time understood salvation. They 
desired to be healthy and prosperous; to have good 
crops; that storms might not devastate, and to have 

* Religion of the Veda, p. 69. 
» Bloomfield, op. cit., p. 71. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 151 

long life. One hymn appeals to Varuna, the god of 
justice, thus:' 

May I not yet, King Vanma, 
Go down into the house of clay: 
Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord. 

Thirst has come on thy worshiper, 
Though standing in waters' midst:* 
Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord. 

O Varuna, whatever the offence may be 
That we as men commit against the heavenly folk 
When through our want of thought we violate thy laws, 
Chastise us not, O God, for that iniquity. 

Such an appeal presupposes a god that, though just, is 
merciful. There is no hint that he needed an atoning 
sacrifice to change his attitude toward the worshiper, 
though another hymn impKes that he may exact from the 
sinner atoning suffering. It runs:^ 

We ascribe to thee honor from of old, 
Now and in future, Vanma, thou mighty one; 
Upon thee we rest as upon a firm rock, 
Infallible one, the eternal laws. 

Take my peculiar misdeed from me. 

Let me not, O King, expiate a sin unknown; 

Should yet many brilliant mornings dawn, 

On them, O Varuna, thou wouldst lead us alive. 

141. Heaven and hell. — In the Vedas, Yama'* was 
the god of death. He was king of the regions of the 

* Translated by Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 77. 

' A reference to dropsy, with which Varuna was thought to afflict 
sinners, according to Macdonell. 

5 Translated from the German of Grassman's Rig-Veda (Leipzig, 
1876), II, 28, 9, 10. 

* Yama was probably a part of primitive Aryan mythology, since 
he appears in the Avesta as Yima. 



152 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

departed, whether they had been good or bad. The 
poets of the Rig- Veda have, however, little to say about 
the after-life, and that little is vague. In Rig- Veda, V, 
55,4, the worshipers yearn for immortality, but whether 
it is immortality on the earth or in some other abode is 
not told. In Rig- Veda, X, 14, i, a hymn devoted to 
funeral obsequies, Yama is celebrated as the god who 
first spied out a path to another world. That other 
world was, Sanskrit scholars think, in heaven. The 
dead are addressed thus :' 

Run on thy path straight forward past the two dogs, 
The sons of Sarama, four-eyed and brindled, 
Draw near thereafter to the bounteous fathers, 
Who revel on in company with Yama. 

In the Atharva-Veda there is a definite belief in a pit of 
black darkness in the earth beneath, into which the 
wicked are to be hurled,^ though the conditions which 
prevail there are only vaguely described. Evidence is 
also afforded that the good were taken to a place of 
happiness. In a charm against dropsy is the prayer :^ 

Lift from us, O Varuna, the uppermost fetter, take down the 
nethermost, loosen the middlemost! Then shall we, O Aditya, 
in thy law, exempt from guilt, Uve in freedom! Loosen from us, 
O Varuna, all fetters, the uppermost, the nethermost, and those 
imposed by Varima! Evil dreams and misfortune drive away 
from us: then may we go to the world of the pious! 

In later literature, the Upanishads and the epic of the 
Mahabharata, there are clear traces of an Indian beHef 

* Rig-Veda, X, 14, 10, translated by Macdonell, op. cit., p. iiS. 
» See Sacred Books of the East, XLII, p. 191, vs. 49; p. 211, vs. 32; 
p, 222, vs. 10. 

ilhid., p. 12 (VII, 3, 4). 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 153 

in a hell and a heaven.' Because the rewards of heaven 
were of a material nature, the thinkers of the Upanishads 
frown upon the hope of heaven as unworthy of a 
philosopher.^ 

142. Magic and demonology. — In its main contents 
the Atharva-Veda is more superstitious than the Rig- 
Veda. It represents the popular beliefs rather than 
those of the more intelligent. It betrays a behef in the 
existence of many demons, and contains many charms 
by wliich it was supposed their attacks could be warded 
off. It was compiled later than the Rig- Veda, and 
where it reflects the conceptions entertained of the 
higher gods they are often more advanced than those of 
the Rig- Veda. Some of its charms against the demons 
of sickness originated perhaps before the Indo-Europeans 
separated, for they agree to some extent in content as 
well as in purpose v/ith certain old German, Lettic, and 
Russian charms.^ While parts of the Atharva-Veda 
clearly developed in India, it reveals to us the fact that a 
belief in numerous demons, and a magic art believed to 
be potent against them, existed through the entire period 
of Vedic development. 

143. The Brahmanas, which probably began to be 
composed as early as 800 B.C. in prose, represent a theo- 
logical transition. The Aryan people had now been long 
exposed to the Indian climate, had occupied, in addition 
to their original territory, the valley of the Ganges in 
which the climate was more depressing, and had, inde- 
pendently of climate, reached a more mature period of 

*See Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New York, 1901), pp. 184-86. 
' See Sacred Books of the East, XV, p. 30, vs. 10. 
» See Macdonell, op. cit., pp. 185 ff. 



154 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

thought. In the Brahmanas, too, we have evidence that 
the fluid society of the time of the Rig-Veda had crystal- 
lized into the four castes: the Brahman, or priestly class, 
who now became the real rulers; the Rajanya or Kshat- 
riya, the warrior class; the Vaisya, the agricultural class, 
and the Sudra or serf caste. While most of the Brah- 
manas are occupied with practical sacrificial directions, 
others undertake to explain the meaning of the ritual. 
A few passages indicate that the more thoughtful had 
passed beyond the stage of culture in which gods are 
believed to be material beings and animal sacrifices are 
thought to be potent. Religion was becoming a thing 
of the spirit; they were questioning the utility of the 
ritual. The priests, or Brahmans, as they were called, 
had a pecuniary interest in the ritual, which to many was 
still a sacred necessity. This pecuniary interest they 
sometimes manifested in repulsive ways.' It became 
the duty of the Brahmans, however, to explain to the 
worshipers the spiritual significance of the time-honored 
material ceremonies. For example, certain sacrifices by 
their burning took the sacrificer up to the god- world; 
others by their noise made him master of the father- 
world; still others of the man- world. Fire, which con- 
sumed the sacrifice, was interpreted as speech.^ In such 
ways the ritual was given a more intellectual and 
spiritual interpretation. In the Brahmanas one beholds 
the minds of the thinkers traveling away from old beliefs 
toward another kind of religion. 

144. The Upanishads, into which the Brahmanas 
merge, contain the essence of this new religion, if religion 

* See, for example, Sacred Books of the East, XV, 121 ff. 
' See Bloomfield, op. cit., pp. 190 Q. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 155 

it can be called. It is rather a philosophy and a pessi- 
mistic one at that. 

(i) The heart of the philosophy of the Upanishads is 
that there is but one real existence in the universe, the 
supreme Brahman, Atman, or Self. All creatures are 
but evanescent manifestations of this Self. This doc- 
trine is reached even in the Brahmanas, where it is 
taught that no material thing may be loved for itself, 
but for the SeK that is manifest in it: 

Verily, a husband is not dear, that you may love the husband ; 
but that you may love the Self, therefore a husband is dear. 

Verily, a wife is not dear, that you may love a wife; but that 
you may love the Self, therefore a wife is dear. 

Verily, sons are not dear, that you may love the sons; but 
that you may love the Self, therefore the sons are dear. 

Verily, wealth is not dear, that you may love wealth; but 
that you may love the Self, therefore wealth is dear. 

The list continues and enumerates even the Vedas 
and the gods as things that are to be loved only because 
of the Self. A monistic doctrine could not well be more 
pronounced. 

(2) The Upanishads are saturated with a profound 
pessimism. In the Vedas there is manifest a genuine 
youthful joy in hfe; in the Upanishads, on the other 
hand, life is considered an evil. The essential element of 
life is desire; desire leads to pain; he only reaches the 
happiness of Brahman or the Self who is free from desire. 

(3) Transmigration. — The pessimism of the Upani- 
shads is intensified by the belief in the transmigration of 
souls. This behef is not peculiar to India; we hear of 
it in Egypt, among the Celts, and among the Greeks. 
Hindu pessimism made it, however, especially terrible. 



1S6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

How it arose in India is not known. There is no trace 
of it in the earlier Vedic literature. It was possible for 
any man in the animistic stage of culture to reach it, 
if he reflected on three facts in which all men beheved: 
(a) man has a soul separate from the body; (b) 
animals have souls; (c) all souls can change their 
habitation. 

In the Vedic literature the souls of the departed went 
to the realm of Yama; in later times to heaven. In the 
Upanishads belief in transmigration is grafted on to this 
earlier belief. The ascetic, who retires to the forest, goes 
at death on the path of the gods not to return. Those 
who practice the ordinary callings of life go at death by 
the path of the fathers to the moon, where they remain 
until the influence of their good deeds is exhausted, 
when they return by the same path and are reborn. 
They may be reborn as a person, an animal, or an herb. 
If their conduct has been good, they will attain to some 
good birth, such as a Brahman; if it has been evil, they 
will quickly attain some evil birth, such as a dog, or a 
hog.^ The influence of deeds on rebirth was called the 
doctrine of Karma, or the deed. 

(4) The abolition of desire became, under these cir- 
cumstances, the great aim of the believers in this philoso- 
phy. Desire led to rebirth; rebirth led to suffering; 
and so the wheel of pain rolled on forever. Salvation lay 
in the aboHtion of desire.^ 

It has been frequently held that this pessimistic 
philosophy is the natural outcome of the conditions of 

^ The fullest description of transmigration is in the Upanishad 
translated in Sacred Books of the East, I, 80 ff. 
' Sacred Books of the East, XV, p. 40, vs. 2. 



THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 157 

life in India, which, it is declared, are harder than those 
of any other civilized country.^ 

145. The evolution of religious thought in the Vedic 
literature is most striking. The Indians reckon the 
Upanishads a part of the Vedas. The religion of the 
earliest hymns of the Rig- Veda is that of buoyant, joyous 
youth; that of the Upanishads is the religion of a world- 
weary people for whom life held no treasure great 
enough to offset its agony. This was, however, only 
the religion of philosophers. As wiU appear in chap, x, 
the older Vedic religion long survived among the common 
people. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 133: cf. Hunter's "India" in Lodge's History of the 
Nations, chap, i, or A. A. Macdonell, History of Sanskrit 
Literature (New York, 1900), pp. 139-44. 

On sec. 134: cf. Macdonell, op. cit., chaps, iii, vii, and viii; or 
Bloomfield, The Religion of the Veda (New York, 1908), 
PP- 17-59. 

On sec. 135: cf. Bloomfield, op. cit., pp. 18 fE. 

On sec. 136: cf. Macdonell, op. cit., chap, vi; or Hoernle and 
Stark, History of India (Cuttack, 1904), chaps, ii and iii. 

On sec. 137: cf. Bloomfield, op. cit., Lectures III and IV; or 
Macdonell, op. cit., pp. 67-107. 

On sec. 138: cf. Macdonell, op. cit., pp. 131 ff. 

On sec. 139: cf. Bloomfield, op. cit.. Lecture II. 

On sec. 140: cf. Macdonell, op. cit.', pp. 116 S.; and E. W. Hop- 
kins, The Great Epic of India (New York, 1901), pp. 184 ff. 

On sec. 142: cf. Macdonell, op. cit., pp. 185-201. 

On sees. 143, 144: Bloomfield, op. cit., Lectures V and VI. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions, chap. xi. 
* Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 264 ff. 



CHAPTER IX 

BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 

There are two extremes, O Bhikkus, which the man who has 
given up the world ought not to follow — ^the habitual practice, on 
the one hand, of those things whose attraction depends upon the 
passions, and especially of sensuality — a low and pagan way (of 
seeking satisfaction), unworthy, improfitable, and fit only for the 
worldly-minded — ^and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of 
asceticism (or self-mortification), which is painful, imworthy, and 
unprofitable. 

There is a middle path, O Bhikkus, avoiding these two 
extremes, discovered by the TathUgata' — a path which opens the 
eyes, and bestows imderstanding, which leads to peace of mind, 
to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvana! 

What is the middle path, O Bhikkus, avoiding these two 
extremes, discovered by the Tath^gata — ^that path which opens 
the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, 
to the higher wisdom, to full enhghtenment, to Nirvana ? Verily! 
it is the noble eightfold path; that is to say; 
' Right views; 

Right aspirations; 

Right speech; 

Right conduct; 

Right Hvelihood; 

Right effort; 

Right mindfulness; and 

Right contemplation. 

— Dhamma-Kaklca-Ppavattana-sutta,* 2, 3, 4 (Buddhist). 

He who knows wrath, knows pride; he who knows pride, 
knows deceit; he who knows deceit, knows greed; he who knows 
greed, knows love; he who knows love, knows hate; he who 

* An epithet of Buddha. 

' That is, "The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness." 
IS8 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 159 

knows hate, knows delusion; he who knows delusion, knows con- 
ception; he who knows conception, knows birth; he who knows 
birth, knows death; he who knows death, knows hell; he who 
knows hell, knows animal existence; he who knows animal 
existence, knows pain. 

Therefore, a wise man should avoid wrath, pride, deceit, 
greed, love, hate, delusion, conception, birth, death, hell, animal 
existence, and pain. — ^Akaranga Sutra, I, iv, 4 (Jain). 

146. The sources of Buddhism. — Buddhism has died 
in India, the land of its birth, but flourishes in many 
other coimtries. As Gautama, its founder, committed 
nothing to writing, his teachings were intrusted to tra- 
dition, and were not written down until later. In the 
course of the centuries much has been added to the 
tradition. From Ceylon and neighboring lands have 
come sacred books of Buddhism (the Pitakas') in the 
Pali language, estimated by Rhys Davids to be in bulk 
about four times that of the Old and New Testaments. 
These consist of discourses (Suttas) attributed to 
Gautama, commentaries upon them, wonderful stories 
of the birth of the Buddha (Jatakas), and traditions of 
his life.^ 

From Nepal, in the north of India, Buddhistic 
scriptures have also come. Among these are Ashva- 
ghosha's poem on the life of Buddha,^ descriptions of the 
land of bliss,^ and a work of a miscellaneous character, 
entitled The Lotus of the True Law. In China and 

^ The Sanskrit for "basket." Used as the name of a "collection" 
of books. 

' Pali works are translated in the Sacred Books of the East, XI, XVII, 
XX; M. P. Grimblot, Sept suttas pdlis (Paris, 1876); and in K. E. 
Neumann, Die Reden Gotamo Buddho's (Leipzig, 1896-1905). 

' Nepalese Buddhistic scriptures are translated in the Sacred Books 
of the East, XXI and XLIX. 



i6o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Tibet' also Ashvaghosha's poem on the life of Buddha 
has been found, and from China* many other Buddhist 
scriptures have come. As the reHgion spread into these 
countries either before the Christian era, or at the very 
beginning of it, the existence of the same work in Pali, in 
the Sanskrit texts of Nepal, in Tibetan, and in Chinese 
is proof of a high antiquity. There is reason to beheve 
that some of these works were composed less than a cen- 
tury after the death of Gautama. 

147. Life of Gautama to his enlightenment. — In the 
sixth century before Christ an Aryan tribe named 
Sakyas was living at Kapilavastu on the Httle river 
Rohini in the valley of the Ganges about 130 miles north 
of Benares. Forty miles to the north rose the great 
peaks of the Himalayas. There were but two tribes of 
Aryans farther east than the Sakyas. They were the 
Lichavis and the Magadha. Suddhodana, the raja of 
the Sakyas, married the two daughters of the raja of the 
Koliyans, a neighboring tribe. The elder of these sisters 
became the mother of Gautama, afterward called the 
Buddha, about 567 b.c.^ At the time of his birth the 

^ Translations from Tibetan sources are found in W. W. RockhiU, 
Life of the Buddha (London, 1884). 

' Chinese Buddhistic sources are made accessible in English in 
Samuel Beal, Catena of Btuidhist Scriptures from Chinese (London, 1871), 
his Abstract of Four Lectures on Buddhistic Literature in China (London, 
1882), and his translations in the Sacred Books of the East, XIX. 

3 This date is obtained in the following way : Asoka, king of Western 
India, who says in his inscriptions that he was converted in his ninth 
year, says that he sent missionaries to Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemy of 
Egypt, Antigonus of Macedonia, Alexander of Epirus, and Magas of 
Cyrene (see V. A. Smith, Asoka [Oxford, 1901], pp. 129-32). These 
rulers were all ruling at the same time only between 262 and 258 B.r. 
(see A. J. Edmunds, Buddhist and Christian Gospels, 4th ed. [Philadelphia 



BUDDfflSM AND JAINISM i6i 

mother was on her way to her father's house, but her son 
was born under some tall trees in a pleasant grove called 
Lumbini. The mother died a week later, and the child 
was brought up by her childless sister, his father's other 
wife. When of suitable age Gautama was married to 
his cousin, the daughter of the raja of Koli. A later tra- 
dition seems to show that Gautama was never interested 
in the ordinary occupations of a prince, but it is certain 
that in his twenty-ninth year, shortly after the birth of 
his only child, he abandoned home and family to devote 
himself to the study of religion. This was in accord 
with an ascetic custom then already old in India. 
Coeval with the rise of the Upanishad philosophy, there 
had grown up a body of ascetics who abandoned the 
world, lived in poverty in the forests or mountains, and 
begged their bread. Gautama is said to have been led 
to this step by four visions: that of a man decrepit 
through age, a sick man, a decaying corpse, and a dig- 
nified hermit. Before leaving home he stole into the 
chamber of his sleeping wife, to take a last look at her 
and his child. This parting the Buddhists call the 
'' Great Renunciation.'' 

Gautama traveled eastward beyond the Koliyan ter- 
ritory with his horse and then sent back his horseman to 
tell his wife and father what had become of him. He 

1908], I, 58). If we take the average of 260 for the conversion of Asoka, 
bis reign began in 269 B.C. A Ceylonese tradition states that Asoka be- 
gan to reign 218 years after Buddha died. This tradition is followed by 
leading Buddhist scholars; it fixes Buddha's death in 487 B.C. Tradi- 
tion also has it that Gautama was eighty years old at his death. If so, 
his birth occurred in 567 B.C. On this reckoning there is an uncertainty 
Df four years as to the accession of Asoka, and consequently as to the 
birth and death of the Buddha. It should be added that some scholars 
discredit the Ceylonese tradition. 



i62 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

then changed his princely clothing for that of a poor man, 
cut off his long hair, and became a wandering mendicant. 
He first went southeastward to the kingdom of Magadha, 
on the south of the Ganges, where he spent some time 
studying the philosophy of the Brahmans under two 
distinguished teachers. The Brahmans insisted that the 
practice of penance was an efficient aid in gaining super- 
human power and insight. Gautama, unsatisfied by his 
study with the philosophers, withdrew with five faithful 
disciples into the jungle, and for six years gave himself to 
the severest asceticism, until he had wasted to a shadow. 
Since asceticism was in India a sufficient title to sanctity, 
his fame had by this time spread far. Gaining no peace, 
he intensified his fasting until one day he fell in a swoon 
and was regarded by his disciples as dead. When he 
came to himself he was convinced that fasting was not 
the way to his goal; he therefore abandoned it. Upon 
this his disciples left him and went away to Benares. 

The depression that Gautama now suffered surpassed 
all that had preceded. Philosophy and asceticism, the 
outward helps on which his countrymen leaned, had 
both failed him. Wandering toward the river Nairan- 
jara, he sat down one morning under the shade of a ban- 
yan tree, reviewed the years of his life, and fought with 
temptation through the long hours of the day. As the 
day ended he beheld in mental vision a new path. He 
became Buddha, the enlightened one. This tree was 
accordingly called the Bo-tree, or tree of enlightenment. 
He gained peace in the power over the human heart of 
inward culture, and of love to others. At last he had 
found certitude. He then made another renunciation, 
greater than his &st; he renounced asceticism and 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 163 

penance. Because of Gautama's experience the Bo-tree 
has become to Buddhists ahnost what the Cross is to 
Christians. Gautama's first thought was to announce 
his religious discovery to his previous philosophic 
teachers. They, however, rejected him, but, nothing 
daimted, he went on to Benares and began to preach 
there.' 

148. Gautama's doctrine was really not a religion, 
but a method of ethical culture. He recognized no 
supreme God. The devas^ or the gods of the old reHgion, 
were real beings, but they were, like men, caught in the 
meshes of the material universe. Gautama proposed no 
reformed worship of these. He accepted the pessimistic 
point of view which is reflected in the Upanishads, and 
the doctrines of transmigration and of Karma. Salva- 
tion as he conceived it was escape from the pain and the 
kiecessity of continuous reincarnation. His formula- 
tion of this thesis he called the four "Noble Truths": 
(i) The experiences of Hfe — birth, growth, decay, illness, 
death, separation from objects we love, hating what can- 
not be avoided — are all sorrowful. That is, such states 
of mind as are inseparable from conscious personality 
are states of suffering and sorrow. (2) The causes of 
suffering and sorrow are the action of the outside world 
on the senses. These objects excite a craving, or a 
delight, which leads to action, which leads in turn to 
rebirth, continued existence, and misery. (3) The 
complete subjugation and destruction of this eager thirst 
or lust is that which causes sorrow to cease. (4) The 
path which leads to the cessation of sorrow is the Noble 

*This statement is abridged from that of T. W. Rhys Davids, 
Buddhism (London, 1903), pp. 25-45. 



i64 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Eightfold Path : right views or beliefs; right aspirations 
or aims; right speech; right conduct or action; right 
liveHhpod (or means of living) ; right effort or endeavor; 
right mindfulness; right contemplation or meditation. 
Gautama taught that one who followed this path would 
become an Arahat — a man set free by insight from the 
desire for material or immaterial existence; from pride 
and self-righteousness and ignorance. As one traveled 
the Noble Eightfold Path on the way to Arahats\n^, one 
would conquer ten errors or evil states of mind: self- 
delusion; doubt; dependence on works; sensuality or 
bodily passions; ill-feeling or hatred; love of life on 
earth; desire for Hfe in heaven; pride; self -righteous- 
ness; ignorance. 

One who became an Arahat had attained Nirvana, a 
state to which Buddhist writers devote many pages of 
awe-struck praise. An Arahat v^^as not, however, a 
saved soul, for Gautama denied the reality of the soul's 
existence. The soul, he held, was only an ensemble of 
sensations, desires, and fears. Apart from these it has 
no reahty any more than a chariot has reahty apart 
from its wheels, axle, pole, and body. Denying the 
reality of the soul, he should in consistency have denied 
transmigration also, but the fascination of this doctrine 
he could not shake off. Though there was no soul to 
migrate, he held that there was a Karma — a kind of 
character attained through what one had done, and 
according to this character one's next incarnation would 
be shaped. Here Gautama agreed with the philosophers 
of the Upanishads. He also held that one might be so 
good as to attain temporary ^ra/^a/ship in some heaven 
without attaining Nirvana. Such a person would dwell 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 165 

in heaven until the virtues of his Karma were exhausted, 
and would then be compelled to begin again the round 
of incarnations. 

As an Arahat was not a soul, so Nirvana was not 
heaven. It is rather' the extinction of that sinful, 
grasping condition of mind and heart which would other- 
wise, according to the great mystery of Karma, be the 
cause of renewed individual existence. It is the same 
thing as a sinless, calm, imconscious state of mind. It 
is Buddhistic holiness — a hoHness of perfect peace, good- 
ness, and wisdom. The doctrines of Buddha, though 
they centered one's thought on himself, gave a great 
impulse to ethical living. The world's tragedies and in- 
justices spring from the selfish desires of men for things. 
As Buddhism aimed to destroy this deisre, it produced 
an unselfish morality that at times has rivaled that of 
Christianity. 

149. The years of Gautama's ministry. — When 
Gautama arrived at Benares he went to the Deer Park 
or Migadaya Wood, about three miles north of the city. 
Here he continued to teach for some time. Three 
months later, and five months after the crisis under the 
Bo-tree, he called together his disciples, who are said 
already to have been about sixty in number, and sent 
them forth to preach. During the rest of his life 
Gautama was accustomed to travel about and preach 
during the eight pleasant months of the year. During 
the four rainy months he remained in one place and 
taught. He soon returned to Rajagriha, the capital of 
the kingdom of Magadha, where Bimbisara, the king, 

* This definition is taken from T. W. Rhys Davids, op. cit., p. m, 
a book to which the writer is greatly indebted. 



i66 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

became his patron, assigning him a bamboo grove, in 
which Gautama spent many rainy seasons. The tra- 
ditions tell us in what localities he traveled for about 
twenty years of his ministry, but we have not space to 
follow the details.' He died at the age of eighty at 
Kusinagara, the modern Kasia, from a fit of indigestion 
induced by eating mushrooms. 

The first disciples of Buddha gathered about him, 
leaving all and becoming an order of mendicants. He 
himself was the leader of this order. The order was 
estabhshed, not because Gautama attached any value 
to ascetic practices as such, but because he held that 
men occupied with the things of life could less easily so 
eradicate desire as to attain Nirvana. He recognized 
also the desirabihty of encouraging those who were not 
ready to join the order to make an endeavor to enter 
upon the Noble Eightfold Path. From an early period 
in his ministry, therefore, a lay membership was 
organized. Indeed, as in other ascetic orders of India, 
many entered this order temporarily. The two types of 
members have ever since characterized Buddhism, 
though the wandering mendicants have become a 
settled, celibate clergy. At a comparatively early period 
in his ministry the Buddha returned to Kapilavastu, his 
birthplace, when his wife Yasodhara and his son Rahula 
were converted to his teaching. His son joined the order 
at once. Later, when Gautama organized an order of 
female mendicants, Yasodhara became one of its first 
members. 

150. Buddhist orders and laity. — When one joins 
the Sangha, or Buddhist order, he is required to subscribe 

* For details see T. W. Rhys Davids, op. cit., pp. 69 ff. 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 167 

to no creed. In one part of the ceremony of initiation 

he says: 

I go for refuge to the Buddha. 
I go for refuge to the Law. 
I go for refuge to the Order. 

He vows not to destroy life, not to steal, to abstain from 
social impurity, not to lie, to abstain from intoxicating 
drinks, not to eat at forbidden times, to abstain from 
dancing, singing, music, and stage plays, not to use 
garlands, scents, unguents, or ornaments, not to use a 
high or broad bed, and not to receive gold or silver.^ 

The rules of the order are very elaborate.^ They 
define four faults which are regarded as fatal to the 
status of a regular disciple of the Buddha. They are: 
any act of sexual intercourse, theft, taking himaan life or 
even encouraging anyone to self-destruction, and pre- 
tending to knowledge that one does not possess. Next 
to the four great offenses are thirteen that deal with 
''formalities." Several of these have to do with clean- 
ness and uncleanness; others with so building huts that 
no animal may be inconvenienced or killed. Other rules 
deal with the uses of robes, rags, bowls, etc., and restrict 
monks to the use of certain medicines. The Pacittiya 
rules, which are ninety-two in number, are of a most 
miscellaneous nature. Five are directed against taking 
life. A monk is forbidden to dig, lest worms should be 
accidentally killed. Twenty rules guard against immor- 
aUty; about ten are directed against lying, slander, etc. 

^ See T. W. Rhys Davids, op. ciL, p. 160. 

* Compare for a more elaborate statement T. W. Rhys Davids, 
op. cit., pp. 162-73; and R. S. Copleston, Buddhism (London, 1892), 
chaps, xiii, xiv, xviii, and xix. 



1 68 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

One is directed against the use of intoxicating drinks. 
As it is followed by several against indecorous conduct, 
it is probable that drink was forbidden because it led 
to levity and a lack of decorum. Much space could be 
devoted to the rules of the order, which are very elabo- 
rate, but enough has been said to indicate their char- 
acter. 

The rules for the nuns contain little of importance. 
They were required to follow the rules for monks as far as 
they were applicable, and in other matters to follow their 
own judgment. They were altogether dependent upon 
the community of men. They had to go to the monks 
for instruction, and their acts were not valid unless con- 
firmed by the monks. 

The laity, so far as the Buddhistic community was 
concerned, were really outsiders. Buddha's teaching 
was applicable to all living creatures in three worlds — for 
gods, men, and animals. The discipline was, however, 
for human beings. In order to adapt the rules to the 
laity, some of the requirements were modified. A lay- 
man is not called to celibacy, but is required to be faith- 
ful to his wife. He may kill animals for the table, though 
he will have to suffer for it in future births. He need 
not abstain from alcohol, except after a special vow. 

151. Early history of Buddhism. — The sources, both 
Pah and Sanskrit, agree that immediately after Gau- 
tama's death the older members agreed to hold a council 
to settle the rules and doctrines of the order. It would 
seem that these had not been fully determined by the 
Buddha himself. The first council was accordingly 
held in the rainy season, or the season was, following his 
death. Five hundred members attended the council. 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 169 

It was held in a cave near Rajagriha, which had been 
prepared by Ajatasatru, king of Magadha. It is 
regarded as probable by Rhys Davids that the kernel of 
the later sacred books of Buddhism dates from this time. 
The next information about the history of Buddhism 
concerns the Council of Vaisali, which was held about one 
himdred years after the first one. Some of the monks 
desired this council to adopt what are known as the ten 
indulgences, among which was the permission to drink 
intoxicants, if they looked Kke water, and to receive gold 
and silver. The indulgences were condemned by the 
council, and a schism resulted. Although this was the 
first open schism, others occurred later, for the Ceylon 
chronicles enumerate eighteen sects. They were prob- 
ably not sects in the modern sense of the term, though 
they formed different governments and lived apart from 
one another. 

By the time of the Coimcil of Vaisali the kingdom 
of Magadha had become supreme in Eastern India. In 
325 B.C. Alexander the Great reached the most easterly 
point of his Indian invasion, and at the request of his sol- 
diery abandoned the uivasion of the valley of the Ganges. 
Before he turned back, his camp was visited by Chan- 
dragupta, a low-caste rebel from Magadha, whom Alex- 
ander spumed. Later, when Nanda, king of Magadha, 
was murdered, Chandragupta seized his throne, and 
after Alexander's death he drove the Greeks from India 
and established an empire that controlled all of Central 
India. He ruled from 322 to 298 B.C. His capital was 
at PataHputra at the junction of the Ganges and Gandak 
rivers. Being of low caste, Chandragupta apparently 
favored Buddhism. His son Bindusara succeeded him. 



I70 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Bindusara was followed some time between 271 and 
267 B.C. by his son Piyadasi, or Asoka, who was in 
his ninth year converted to Buddhism, and became the 
Constantine of that faith. He enjoined its precepts upon 
his subjects, inscribing them upon rocks in many parts 
of the country, and sent missionaries to foreign lands to 
preach it. Some of these missionaries visited Syria, 
Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus, and C5n:ene. In his eight- 
eenth year Asoka held a council at Patna and appointed 
a chief minister of rehgion, whose duty it was to preserve 
the purity of religion and see that subject races were 
properly treated. Asoka's edicts show that, along with 
many other good works, he established hospitals even in 
foreign lands for the care of men and animals. The most 
important of Asoka's missionary enterprises was the 
mission sent to Ceylon, for it resulted in the introduc- 
tion of Buddhism into that country, where it has flour- 
ished with especial vigor. Here in the fifth century 
A.D. Buddhaghosa, the famous monk who compiled 
an encyclopedia of Buddhist doctrine, Hved. Asoka's 
efforts seem also to have introduced Buddhism into 
Kashmere — at least it reached that part of India in his 
century. 

Space forbids us to follow in detail the later history 
of Buddhism. About the beginning of the Christian era 
it found its way into China. Probably even earlier it 
had become naturalized in Tibet. From China it spread 
to Korea and Japan. In the fifth century a.d. Buddhism 
was adopted in Burmah, and in the seventh century in 
Siam. In India proper it was already decadent in the 
sixth century a.d., when the Chinese pilgrim Yuan 
Chwang visited the country. It lingered on, however, 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 171 

till the twelfth or thirteenth century, when it was ex- 
pelled by Hinduism and Mohammedanism. Although it 
has practically vanished from the land of its birth, it is 
estimated that there are today perhaps 500,000,000 
Buddhists in the world. In other words, it is a religion 
of about one-third of the human race! 

152. The transformation of Buddhism. — Buddhism, 
which remained comparatively pure until the time of 
Asoka, has in the centuries since been greatly trans- 
formed. Gautama himself recognized no God, but quite 
early in its development Buddhism had made him a god. 
He is regarded as omniscient and as perfectly sinless. 
Soon the doctrine arose that he had no earthly father; 
that he descended of his own accord from his throne in 
heaven into the womb of his mother, who was the purest 
of the daughters of men. After his birth the very trees 
bent of their own accord over him, and in many nuracu- 
lous ways he gave evidence of his heavenly character. 
Around this conception of him all the marvels of the 
Jatakas, or Birth Stories, grew up. These were in part 
the outgrowth of a certain doctrine which, it is alleged, 
Gautama taught. According to this doctrine twenty- 
four Buddhas had appeared before him. After the death 
of each one the world grew gradually worse until a new 
one appeared. After five thousand years the religion 
revealed to Gautama under the Bo-tree will become so 
corrupt that a new Buddha, Buddha Maitreya, the 
Buddha of kindness, will appear and again open to 
men the door to Nirvana. Thus the pre-existent 
Buddha, who had appeared many times, newly rein- 
carnated in Gautama, took the place of a God in the 
reHgion. 



172 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Along with this development many beautiful stories 
and parables were incorporated in the Buddhist scriptures 
and attributed to Gautama. Some of these, like the 
story of the penitent and impenitent robber,' and the 
parable of the prodigal son,^ somewhat resemble passages 
in the Gospels. It has been maintained that Christianity 
borrowed these from Buddhism, and that Buddhism 
borrowed them from Christianity. Albert J. Edmimds 
and Garbe earnestly advocate the indebtedness of 
Christianity to Buddhism.^ Such borrowing has not 
yet been fully proved, though shown to have been 
possible. One form of the legend of the Buddha 
became, however, so popular that it was given a 
Christian form, and, as St. Josaphat, the Buddha is 
revered as a Christian saint on the twenty-seventh 
of November! 

The development which made Buddha a god is known 
as Mahayana Buddhism, or Buddhism of the Great 
Vehicle. The Little Vehicle, or Hinayana, accepted in 
Ceylon, Siam, and Burma, represented Gautama as a 
simple teacher who uttered elementary truths easily 
comprehended by all."* This, as already noted, did not 
long satisfy. In the Great Vehicle Gautama's activity 
was divided into five periods. In the first his doctrine 
proved too advanced for the multitude, hence there 
followed a period of twelve years called the Deer Park. 
In this period Gautama set forth the doctrines of the 

^ Albert J. Edmunds, Buddhist and Christian Gospels, II, 14 ff. 
'Sacred Books of the East, XXI, 99-106; Vol. X of American 
edition. 

» See Edmunds' Buddhist and Christian Gospels, II, 14 fif. 
< *"pe Sacred Books of the East, XIX, 168-79. 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 173 

Little Vehicle as an accommodation to human infirmity. 
The third was a period of expansion, when he preached 
to Boddhisattwas in ten regions a doctrine of greater 
profimdity. This was only preliminary to a fourth 
period in which Gautama taught the doctrine of the 
Absolute, ''which is the negation of all that is finite, and 
can be neither described nor comprehended by the ordi- 
nary processes of the intellect." In the fifth period he 
set forth more fully the nature of the Absolute, which 
constitutes and pervades all things, but which becomes 
incarnate in successive Buddhas. This last period is 
called Nirvana/ Thus in the Greater Vehicle Gautama 
was exalted to an incarnation of the Absolute. Along 
with the transformation of the conception there de- 
veloped a transformation of the means of grace. In 
early Buddhism the efforts of each individual constituted 
his means of grace; in the Mahayana system great stress 
is laid upon prayer. The Absolute is merciful and may 
be appealed to. 

In Tibet and Nepal the development of this system 
has taken a peculiar form. According to this view there 
were three Buddhas before Gautama. The Buddha 
Maitreya, who will finally bring in the Golden Age, will 
be the fifth. Each of these mortal Buddhas has his 
counterpart in the mystic world free from the corrupting 
influences of material life. These are called Dhyani 
Buddhas. Each one of the five has a Boddhisattwa — a 
being, either man, angel, or animal, whose Karma is 
capable of producing other beings in a continually 
ascending scale of goodness until it becomes a Buddha. 

^Compare the statement in G. W. Knox, The Development of 
Religion in Japan (New York, 1907), pp. 95 f. 



174 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

According to this scheme the fifteen Buddhas are as 
follows : 

Dhydni Buddhas Boddkisatiwas Human Buddhas 

Vairochana Samanta-bhadra Kraku-chanda 

Akshobya Vajrapani Kanaka-muni 

Ratna-sambhava Ratnapani Kasyapa 

Amitabha Padmapani (or Gautama 

Avalokitesvara) 

Amogasiddha Visvapani Maitreya 

Some of these, like Avalokitesvara, "the lord that 
looks down from on high," are metaphysical inventions, 
but Vajrapani, ''the thunderbolt handed," or "hurler of 
the thunderbolt," is no other than the Vedic god Indra, 
under one of his epithets. Thus the old religion has 
crept back into Gautama's system of ethical culture! 
Another infusion from the old religion is the belief in 
heaven and hell. This belief is interwoven with the 
doctrine of transmigration. In heaven the good, who are 
not good enough for Nirvana, rest awhile before they are 
again incarnated. Hell is similarly a temporary abiding- 
place for the wicked. 

In Tibet alone of Buddhist countries the Buddhist 
order has developed into a hierarchy. Avalokitesvara is 
conceived as the Spirit of the Buddha who is present 
with his church. He is supposed to be incarnate in the 
Dalai Lama, the infallible Head of the Church. The 
temples in Buddhist countries are supposed to be places 
for meditation and reading of the sacred books of Bud- 
dhism. There are altars on which incense is burned to 
the statue of the Buddha. Prayers are also said or 
chanted in parts of the Buddhist world. In Tibet the 
mechanical saying of prayers is thought to be a virtue. 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 175 

Even their presentation in written form is of value, 
hence prayer wheels have been invented, to which 
wrritten prayers are attached. Every time the wheel, 
turned by wind or water, bears the prayer upward 
merit accrues to the devotee! In Nepal the early 
discipline of the order has so far relaxed that there are 
monasteries swarming with married monks/ 

153. The founder of Jainism, Vardhamana or Maha- 
vira, was bom near Vaisali, the modem Besarh,^ in the 
valley of the Ganges. His father appears to have been 
a petty chieftain. Mahavira Hved in the same general 
period as Gautama, but probably a little before him, 
and founded a system of ethical culture which so much 
resembles Buddhism in some points that it has at times 
been regarded as a Buddhist sect. In many respects, 
however, it differs strikingly from Buddhism. Maha- 
vira, until he was thirty years old, lived a normal Hfe. 
He became an ascetic and practiced asceticism for twelve 
years, when he received enhghtenment and became the 
Jain, or the Victorius One. He then founded the Jainist 
order of monks, over which he presided until his death, 
when he was seventy-two years old.^ 

154. Jainism, like Buddhism, was a revolt from the 
Brahmanic system. With reference to the gods Mahavira 
went farther than Gautama. Gautama admitted their 
existence, but denied them worship; Mahavira was 
thoroughly skeptical about them."* Like Gautama, he 

* V. A. Smith, Early History of India (Oxford, 1914), p. 367. 
" See Jacobi, Sacred Books of the East, XXII, x, xv; and A. 
Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India (London, 1871), p. 443. 
3 Sacred Books of the East, XXII, 269. 
'^Ihid., p. 152. 



176 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

retained the doctrine of transmigi'ation and of Karma, 
but, unlike him, he held with many Brahmans to the 
value of asceticism. Notwithstanding his faith in trans- 
migration, he still retained the Vedic doctrine of hell, to 
which the wicked went between births. Mahavira had 
practiced ascetic austerities twelve years before he 
became victorious, and he held that twelve years was the 
appointed time, if such practices were to be efficacious. 
The five vows taken by the Jainist monks are not to 
kill any living being, not to tell Hes, not to steal, not to 
indulge in sexual pleasures, and to renounce all attach- 
ments.^ These are in many respects similar to the vows 
of the Buddhist monks, but Jacobi has made it probable 
that both are influenced more by earlier Hindu ascet- 
icism than by each other. Although Mahavira had a 
very poor opinion of women,^ he permitted them to be- 
come ascetics. His rules apply to nuns as well as to 
monks. There are at present two orders of Jain monks, 
one of which wears clothes and admits women, while the 
other does not admit women and goes nude.^ Deliver- 
ance from rebirth is to be attained by right knowledge 
of the relation between spirit and non-spirit; by right 
intuition, or absolute faith in the Master and the dec- 
larations of the sacred texts; and by the right practice 
of the virtues, or observance of the five vows in all their 
details. The belief that it is wrong to kill anything leads 
the Jains to the most absurd tolerance of vermin. At 
times they fear to move or to breathe freely lest they kill 
some of the small insects with which the very air of India 

^ Sacred Books of the East, XXII, 202 ff. 

^Ibid., pp. 21, 48. 

3 E. W. Hopkins, Religions of India (Boston, 1895), p. 295. 



BUDDHISM AND JAINISM 177 

frequently swarms. In almost every town where Jains 
live animal hospitals abound. One at Kutch is said to 
have contained five thousand rats! 

The followers of Mahavira regard him as a pre- 
existent being, who of his own accord was born of his 
mother. In practice, therefore, they accord him divine 
honors. Hopkins declares that a religion that denies 
God, worships man, and nourishes vermin has no right 
to exist!' Its one virtue, that of not killing, it holds in 
such exaggerated form that it becomes grotesque. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sees. 146-49: cf. T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism (London, 

1903), chaps, i-iv. 
On sec. 150: See ibid., chaps, v and vi; and R. S. Copleston, 

Buddhism (London, 1892), chaps, xiii, xiv, xviii, and xix. 
On sees. 151, 152: cf. T. W. Rhys Davids, op. cit., chaps, vii-ix. 
On sees. 153, 154: cf. Hopkins, Religions of India, chap, xii; 

S. Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism (Oxford University 

Press, 191 5) ; and Sacred Books of the East, XXII (American 

ed., Vol. X, second half). 

CLASS B 

George F. Moore, History of Religions, I, chap. xii. 
^ Ibid., p. 297. 



CHAPTER X 
HINDUISM 

The Veda is the source of the sacred law. — Gautama', Insti- 
tutes of the Sacred Law, i, i. 

There are four castes — ^Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and 
Sudras. Amongst these, each preceding [caste] is superior by 

birth to the one following To serve the other castes is 

ordained for the Sudra. — ^Apastamba, Aphorisms, I, i, 1:4, 5, 8. 

There are four orders, viz., the order of house-holders, the 
order of students, the order of ascetics, and the order of hermits 
in the woods. If he lives in all these four according to the rules. 
without allowing himself to be disturbed, he will obtain salvation 
— Apastamba, Aphorisms, II, 9, 21:1, 2. 

Heaven is their reward, if they speak the truth; in the con- 
trary case hell. — Gautama, Institutes, xiii, 7. 

He who receives a (gift) from an avaricious king who acts in 
opposition to the treatises goes in succession to these twenty- 
one hells. — Ordinances of M ami, iv, 87. 

Leaving his good deeds to his loved ones and his evil deeds 
to his enemies, by force of meditation he goes to the eternal 
Brahma. — Ordinances of Manu, vi, 79. 

All this depends on meditation, whatsoever has been declared ; 
for no one who knows not the supreme self obtains the fruit of his 
deeds. — Ordinances of Manu, vi, 82. 



And consecrated altar built and raised of bricks of gold, 
Shone in splendor like the altar Dasha raised in days of old, 
Eighteen cubits square the structure, four deep layers of brick in 

height. 
With a spacious winged triangle Hke an eagle in its flight! 

» Not to be confused with the founder of Buddhism. 
178 



HINDUISM 179 

Beasts whose flesh is pure and wholesome, dwellers of the lake 

and sky, 
Priests assigned each varied offering to each heavenly power on 

high. 
Bulls of various breed and color, steeds of mettle true and tried, 
Other creatures, full three hundred, to the many stakes were tied. 

Birds and beasts thus immolated, dressed and cooked, provide 

the food. 
Then before the sacred charger priests in rank and order stood. 
And by rules of Veda guided slew the horse of noble breed, 
Placed Draupadi, Queen of yajna, by the slain and lifeless steed. 

— Mahdbhdrata, Book xii (Dutt's translation, pp. 167 f.). 
Krishna (said) : 

I am the creature seated deep in every creature's heart; 

Of poets Usana, of saints Vyasa, sage divine ; 
The policy of conquerors, the potency of kings, 
The great unbroken silence in learning's secret things; 
The lore of all the learned, the seed of all which springs. 
Living or lifeless, still or stirred, whatever beings be, 
None of them in aU the worlds, but it exists by me! 
— Bhagavad-Gita, Book X (Sir Edwin Arnold's translation). 

155. History. — Neither the Vedic religion nor the 
philosophies of the Upanishads was supplanted by the 
Buddhistic and the Jainistic heresies. Each hved on and 
has undergone multiform developments in the course 
of the centuries. The history of India has witnessed 
many upheavals. The chief events down to the reign 
of Asoka have already been noted. The descendants of 
Asoka lingered as petty rajas of Magadha and of parts 
of Western India for several centuries. In 206 B.C. 
Antiochus III of Syria is said to have made an incursion 
into India, and in the following century parts of India 
were at several times subject to kings of Bactria. 



i8o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

After Bactria had been overthrown by Parthia, Par- 
thian princes at various times ruled portions of India 
to about 60 A.D. Legend has it that the apostle Thomas 
visited and preached in India at this time. These 
conquerors from the West left no permanent influence 
upon the country. 

In 185 B.C. the descendant of Asoka at Pataliputra 
was overthrown and a Sunga dynasty was estabUshed 
there. Pushyamitra, its founder, inaugurated a reaction 
against Buddhism and revived the horse sacrifice. The 
Sunga dynasty was succeeded by the Kanva dynasty 
in 73 B.C. The Kanvas were in turn overthrown in 
28 B.C. by the Andhra dynasty, a Dra vidian people who 
lived in the region of the Godavari and Kistna rivers, 
where the Telugus are now found. The Andhra dynasty 
had been foimded in that region after the death of 
Asoka, where it had gradually increased its power until 
it finally overthrew the Kanva dynasty and controlled 
the valley of the Ganges. The Andhra kings flourished 
until about 225 a.d. 

While these events were in progress a Scythian dy- 
nasty called Kushan, that had established itseK in Bactria 
about 10 B.C., invaded Northwestern India about 20 a.d. 
and established itself in the region of Kabul and the 
upper Indus. This dynasty was not expelled from 
India until about 225 a.d. During a part of its career 
in India it controlled much of the valley of the Ganges. 
One of its kings, Kanishka, is said to have been con- 
verted to Buddhism. 

For about a hundred years we have no knowledge of 
the events occurring in Central India, but about 320 a.d. 
a man bearing the historic name of Chandragupta 



HINDUISM i8i 

established a dynasty at or near Pataliputra, which 
lasted till 606 a.d. and withstood an invasion of the 
Huns. It was followed by the powerful reign of Harsha 
of Thanesar, who flourished until 647 a.d. After Harsha's 
death the country broke up into petty states which were 
often at war with one another, and the history of which 
we have not space to follow. From the end of the 
tenth century (986) to the thirteenth century the 
Mohammedans made many conquests in Northwestern, 
Central, and Southern India, compelling many of the 
people to accept Islam. The Mohammedans estab- 
lished monarchies in various parts of the land — Bengal, 
the Deccan, Delhi, etc. — ^and became the most important 
poKtical force in the coimtry until 1803. Since that 
time India has gradually passed under the control of 
Great Britain. 

156. Systems of philosophy. — Before entering on 
the development of reHgion in the narrower meaning of 
the term, it is convenient to trace the various systems 
of philosophy that were evolved out of the thought 
of the Upanishads or in reaction against it. These 
systems were regarded by their adherents as religions, 
or substitutes for reHgion. Some of them profoundly 
influenced the law books and the epics. 

The oldest of these philosophies was the Sankhya 
system, which is said to have originated with Kapila, 
a pre-Buddhistic thinker. Kapila revolted from the 
monism of the Upanishads, and maintained that there 
are two eternal things: matter and an infinite number 
of individual souls. An account of the nature and the 
mutual relation of these two forms the main content of 
the system. The philosophy is atheistic, as it recognizes 



i82 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

no God. What are called gods were no more than 
individual souls. Salvation, according to this system, 
is deliverance from the misery of transmigration, and is 
accomplished by the recognition of the absolute dis- 
tinction between matter and the soul. 

The Yoga system was founded by the grammarian 
Patanjali two or three centuries later. The system takes 
its name from a word meaning "union," etymologically 
related to the Lditin jugum, "a yoke," and had for its 
aim, some think, union with God. Others say that it 
means "exertion" and refers to ascetic labors. Like 
Sankhya, it held to the distinction between spirit and 
matter, but unlike it, it held to faith in a personal God. 
The Yoga theory of salvation was practical rather than 
theoretical. It laid emphasis on asceticism and expe- 
rience rather than upon knowledge. Fasting and other 
penances had long prevailed in India. The Yoga system 
took them up and enforced them with a philosophical 
explanation. The object of these practices was to isolate 
the soul from matter, that it might be united to God. 
To stand with mud caked in one's hair till birds nested 
in it, immovable because the soul was in ecstatic abstrac- 
tion, was an extreme manifestation of the practice of 
Yoga principles. 

Still another philosophy, a development of that of 
the Upanishads, passes under the name of Vedanta. It 
is chiefly influential in the form given to it by ^ankara, 
a commentator on the Veda who hved about 800 a.d. 
It is built on the conception of Brahman, which is 
explained at times as Absolute Being, at times as the 
ground of being or soul of the universe, and at times as 
a personal God. According to this philosophy the 



HINDUISM 183 

phenomenal world has no real existence, though a 
kind of existence, Hke that of a dream, is accorded to it. 
Dreams are for a time real, though there is no outward 
reality to correspond to them. The bad dream of death 
and rebirth will go on until each recognizes that there 
is no real existence in the world except Brahman-Atman. 
This knowledge is salvation. Passages in the Upani- 
shads which speak of Brahman as a personal supreme 
God were, f ankara taught, accommodations to the limi- 
tations of human understanding. On account of such 
limitation Brahman might be adored as Lord. This 
was, however, a lower view than the other. There 
was thus a distinction between a higher and a lower 
Brahman. (The Sanskrit term Brahman and its deriva- 
tives are employed in Indian religious Hterature in a 
variety of ways. The term meant originally "to think 
holy thoughts,'' "worship," "adore," etc. Then a 
Brahman was a member of the priestly caste. The reh- 
gion conducted by this priestly caste came in time to be 
called Brahmanism — a term which in modern times is 
sometimes used as a synonym of Hinduism. Brahman 
was at times also employed to designate the object of 
worship. In this sense it is another name for Atman, the 
Soul of the universe.) 

Opposed to this school is that of Ramanuja, who 
lived about iioo a.d. According to this system Brah- 
man is not a metaphysical Absolute, but his essence is 
inteUigence. He is all-enveloping, all-knowing, all- 
merciful. He is goodness and is unalterably opposed to 
evil. Souls, far from being troubled dreams, constitute 
the very body of Brahman. Ramanuja, Hke the others, 
accepted the doctrine of death and rebirth. On his view 



i84 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

one could gain salvation from this by loving God, seeking 
him, adoring him. God would then mercifully grant the 
seeking soul release and permit it to share his own bliss. 

There are three minor orthodox systems of phi- 
losophy, the Mimansa, which explains the value to be 
derived from Vedic ceremonies; the Nyaya, a system of 
logic and argumentation; and the ^arvakas, a material- 
istic philosophy which regards the soul as a kind of 
ferment produced by the elements of the body. 

The influence of these philosophic sects upon Hindu- 
ism has been profound. One consequence of this is the 
widespread beHef that salvation may be attained by 
contemplation of Brahman and intellectual absorption 
rather than by ethical endeavor and attainment of 
character. Religion thus becomes a matter of thought, 
l^... and the life remains untouched. 

157. Religion of the earlier law books. — Perhaps the 
earliest sources of information concerning the reHgion of 
the period just outlined are the law books of India, the 
sutras of Gautama, Apastamba, and Manu. These 
are, if not the earliest, the most conservative sources. 
It is thought that the Institutes of Gautama may be as 
early as the rise of Buddhism. This work makes the 
Veda the source of sacred law; a king and a Brahman 
are to be deeply versed in the Veda. The work is a set 
of rules defining the duties of each of the four castes. 
Incidentally it ordains certain sacrifices to Agni, the 
Maruts, and to Prajapati, the Vedic Creator.' Adora- 
tion of Rudra, Mitra, Indra, Agni, Soma, and all the gods 
is also prescribed.* Heaven is the reward of witnesses 
who speak the truth; hell, of those who He.^ 

* Gautama, v, 10. ' Ibid., xxvi. » Ibid., xiii, 7. 



HINDUISM 185 

In the Aphorisms of Apastamba there is more varia- 
tion from Vedic worship. Offerings and hymns were to 
be presented to "Earth, Air, Heaven, Sun, Moon, the 
Constellations, Indra, Brihaspati, Prajapati, and Brah- 
man."* Brihaspati, "Lord of Prayer," is a deity of the 
Rig- Veda, but Brahman, the universal substance of the 
monistic philosophy of the Upanishads, has been taken 
from later strata of thought. His presence is evidence 
that even these law books were not untouched by the 
speculations of the philosophers. In this work, as in 
that of Gautama, the distinctions of caste are everjrwhere 
presupposed, and are rigidly enforced. It is assumed 
that the doctrine of transmigration and of Karma may 
to some extent reHeve men from the prison-house of 
caste. Those who do well may in successive births enter 
higher castes; those who do ill, if members of a noble 
caste, will be bom in the future in lower castes.* In the 
Ordinances of Manu (about 200 B.C.?) the influence 
of philosophic speculation is still more pronounced. 
While formally making the Veda the basis of legal prac- 
tice, and enforcing the obligations of caste, many varia- 
tions are introduced. The Lord, Creator of all things, 
is Brahman. He is self -existent; he created all things, 
even the gods; Hghtnings, thunderbolts, and Indra^s 
unbent bow are his work.^ This one some declare to be 
Agni, others Manu Prajapati, some Indra, others breath, 
others again the eternal Brahman.^ The wicked man goes 
not to one hell, but to twenty-one hells,s though in other 
passages it is taught that sin may be punished by rebirths 

* ApS,stamba, II, 2, 4:4. 

» Ihid., II, 5, 11:10, II. *Ihid., xii, 123. 

3 Manu, i. $ Ibid., iv, 87 ff. 



i86 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

rather than in hells. Thus the crrnie of killing a beast 
will be punished by as many rebirths as there were hairs 
on the animal.' Salvation is, according to Manu, union 
with Brahman, but the thought as to how this union 
might be accomplished was evidently in a state of 
transition. At times it is said to be effected by study of 
the Veda, by vows, offerings, offspring, and sacrifice.^ 
At other times it is said to be secured by meditation .^ 
At times the rules of sacrifice are enforced with almost 
trivial literalness; at other times sacrifice is declared to 
be spiritual.4 In such ways the old religion appears in 
the Laws of Manu to be in process of transformation. 

In the estimation of the compilers of all these laws 
it was necessary to regard the Veda as the Hindu Bible, 
but the Veda to which they adhered was not always the 
same. Gautama built upon the Sama-Veda, Apastamba 
and Manu upon the Yajur-Veda. The methods of 
treating Vedic texts and institutions differed, as the 
methods of interpretation applied to the Bible by modern 
Christian sects have sometimes differed. It was thus 
that one school could justify speculations which almost 
did away with Vedic gods. 

158. The Mahabharata, the great epic of India, is a 
work of much religious significance. It has profoimdly 
affected large sections of Hindu rehgious life. Like the 
Gilgamesh Epic of the Babylonians and Hke the Iliad , it 
is not all from one hand or one age. It is a long con- 
glomerate work, containing about eight times as much 
material as the Iliad and the Odyssey put together.^ 

* Manu, V, 38. ' Ihid., iv, 87; vi, 79. 

» Ihid., ii, 28. •« Ihid., iv, 22-28. 

s Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 282. 



HINDUISM 187 

This mass of material was a gradual growth, begimiing 
as an epic not earlier than 400 B.C., and (with the excep- 
tion of minor amplifications) completed about 400 a.d.' 
By 500 A.D. its contents were the same as at present.* 
The beginnings of the epic are based on stories that 
reach much farther back into Indian antiquity. 

Even a brief outline of the epic story would occupy 
too much of our space. The scene is laid at Hastina- 
pura, fifty-seven miles northeast of the modern Delhi. 
The region was called, from the ruling race, the land of 
the Kurus. Here two brothers ruled, Dhritarashtra and 
Pandu. Dhritarashtra being blind, Pandu reigned glori- 
ously. Pandu had five sons, the chief of whom were called 
Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna; Dhritarashtra had 
a hundred sons. After Pandu's death Dhritarashtra 
took over the government, but made Yudhishthira 
the heir apparent. Soon the sons of Pandu were com- 
pelled by the hatred of their hundred cousins to flee 
the kingdom. They made their way to the king of 
Panchala, whose daughter, Draupadi, Arjuna won by 
a feat of arms. They soon formed an alliance with 
Krishna, the hero of the Yadavas, who from this time 
became the friend, adviser, and champion of the brothers, 
especially of the most warHke of them, Arjuna. Because 
of their powerful alliances their uncle now divided his 
kingdom with the five brothers in order to placate them. 
Through the machinations of one of their cousins a con- 
flict was precipitated. With the accoimt of this conflict 
the epic action begins. There were battles, victories, 
defeats, the loss of a kingdom by gambling, banishment, 

^ Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New York, 1901} , p. 398. 
" Macdonell, op. ciL, p. 287. 



i88 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

and wars again. To the original story of war other 
stories have been added in the lapse of time. The differ- 
ent strata represent many varying religious conceptions. 
In parts of it the Vedic custom of animal sacrifice is 
described with approval, as in the case of the horse sacri- 
fice in Book xii, quoted at the head of this chapter. In 
other parts philosophic speculations and anti-priestly 
utterances are enthusiastically set forth. The most 
significant religious feature of the epic is the way in 
which Krishna developed from an earthly hero to an 
incarnation of Vishnu. We learn from the Greek writer 
Megasthenes, who was in India about 300 B.C., that at 
that time the two gods Vishnu and -giva were already 
very prominent, and that people were divided into 
Vishnuites and fivaites. Qiva. was originally the Vedic 
god Rudra, a god of storm and vengeance, ^iva means 
"auspicious" and was a euphemistic epithet given to 
Rudra. The new name seems gradually to have changed 
to some extent the character of the god, who became the 
auspicious deity to many, and vied with Vishnu, one 
of the Vedic sun-gods, for the devotion of the Indian 
peoples. The division into Vishnuites and ^ivaites, 
noted by Megasthenes, became one of the most far- 
reaching distinctions in Hinduism. The Mahdbhdrata is 
one of the great products of a part of the Vishnuites. 

Krishna was, it is thought, a real man, a nephew of 
Kamsa, king of the Yadavas. He was born at Mathura, 
between Delhi and Agra. An oracle warned Kamsa 
that a son of his brother would kill him; he therefore 
put his nephews to death as fast as they were born. 
Krishna's parents secretly conveyed their son to the 
other side of the river, where, with an older brother who 



HINDUISM 189 

had also escaped, he was brought up by a herdsman and 
his wife. The brothers became famous for their fights 
with demons and dragons. Their fame reached the 
uncle, who summoned them to his court, when the uncle 
was put out of the way, and Krishna became king. 
After many other victories he became the charioteer 
of the prince Arjuna, and took part in the wars which 
form the central theme of the Mahdbhdrata. Many 
years later internecine strife broke out among the Yada- 
vas, when they killed one another to the last man, 
Krishna perishing with the others. 

Why this hero became Vishnu incarnate we can now 
only conjecture. One plausible theory is that he was 
a religious reformer, who taught people to worship God 
imder the name of Bhagavata, ''the Adorable," and that 
he was afterward regarded as an incarnation of God, the 
Brahmans interpreting God as Vishnu. 

159. The Bhagavad-Gita, or "Song of the Blessed," 
lends probability to the theory just mentioned. It is 
inserted as an episode in the sixth book of the Mahd- 
bhdrata. It is placed at a point in the epic where Arjuna 
was compelled to lead the forces of the sons of Pandu 
against his cousins, the sons of Dhritarashtra, in fratri- 
cidal strife. Arjuna hesitated and Krishna proceeded 
to instruct him in the true doctrine of sacrifice — the 
sacrifice of the lower self to the higher self. The out- 
ward war of the brothers was thus made to interpret 
the inward war of the two natures in every man. The 
teaching is given in the form of a dialogue. Arjuna 
asked many questions, to which Krishna gave illumi- 
nating replies. In these replies the spiritual rehgion 
of the Krishna- Vishnuites is clearly set forth and at the 



IQO THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

same time is given practical application to the affairs 
of real life. Krishna, in the passage quoted at the begin- 
ning of this chapter, as the embodiment of Vishnu, is the 
all-embracing immanent deity. 

In him pantheism is made personal. The great 
struggle of life is the struggle between one's lower and 
higher natures. In carrying on this struggle one should 
not flee arduous manly duty (not even the war which 
confronted Arjuna could be shirked), but one should 
stand up manfully to that which the immanent God laid 
upon him. The transmigration of the soul is assumed 
as an underlying philosophy all through the poem, and 
the philosophies of different schools find expression in 
different parts of the work.^ The poem was in some 
form present in the epic, it is thought, as early as 250 
B.C.,* though in parts it has been expanded since. 
Although an eclectic work, the Bhagavad-Gita is the finest 
ethical and rehgious product of non-Buddhistic Indian 
religious thought. Certain strains remind us of words 
of Jesus, as the following from ELrishna: 

Who doeth all for Me; who findeth Me 

In all; adoreth always; loveth all 

Which I have made, and Me, for love's sole end, 

That man, Arjuna! unto me doth wend.^ 

Some modern Hindu sects and their admirers have had 
the Bhagavad-Gita printed in many translations, and cir- 
culate it as Bible societies circulate the New Testament. 

* These philosophies are outUned in sec. 156. 

' So Garbe in the article "Bhagavad-Gita" in Hastings' Encyclo- 
paedia of Religion and Ethics, II, 535 flf. 

3 Bhagavad-Gita, Sir Edwin Arnold's The Song Celestial, end of 
Book XI, pp. 128 ff. 



HINDUISM 191 

Such incarnations or descents (avatdras) of Vishnu 
and other deities are supposed in India to have occurred 
many times. These avatar as were sometimes in animal 
as well as in human form. Vishnu was believed to have 
manifested himseK in this way nine times. Thus old 
cults were reinterpreted as ancient forms of later ones. 
In time it was supposed that whenever reHgion was in 
danger or iniquity was triumphant the god was incar- 
nated to set things right. This view is expressed in the 
Bhagavad-Gita. 

160. The Ramayana is another epic poem that has 
had great religious significance in India. In its present 
form it consists of seven books, and is said to have been 
composed by a poet named Valmiki. Jacobi has shown 
that the original kernel of the poem consisted of Books 
ii-vi, and there are reasons for supposing that these five 
books were composed before 400 B.C. and some think they 
antedate the beginning of Buddhism.^ The scene of the 
Ramayana was the vicinity of Ayodhya, the modern 
Oudh, about 170 miles northwest of Benares. Daga- 
ratha, king of Ayodhya, had three sons by three wives: 
Rama, son of Kaugalya; Bharata, son of Kaikeyi; and 
Lakshmana, son of Sumitra. Rama was declared the heir 
apparent, but Kaikeyi, anxious that her son Bharata 
should be the next king, persuaded Dagaratha to grant 
her any boon she might ask. Having obtained her 
request she asked that Bharata might be made heir 
apparent and Rama be banished for fourteen years. 
Rama was accompanied into exile by his wife Sita and 
his half-brother Lakshmana. All three lived happily in 
the forest of Dandaka. Upon the death of Dagaratha, 

^ Macdonell, History oj Sanskrit Literature, p. 309, 



192 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Bharata refused to reign, but sought out Rama and 
implored him to return. When Rama refused, Bharata 
went back, placed a pair of Rama's shoes on the throne, 
and himself dispensed justice by their side. Rama con- 
tinued to dwell in the forest, having various adventures, 
engaging in various wars, and making alliances with the 
monkeys. Once he was compelled to rescue his wife 
Sita from captors somewhat as King David did his.^ 

The original poem had to do with these adventures, 
but by the addition of Books i and vii Rama has been 
made an embodiment of Vishnu, so that the poem, like 
the Mahdbhdrata, is a glorification of Vishnu. In con- 
sequence of this, some Hindu sects regard the Ramayana 
as their Old Testament and use it for reHgious edification. 
Rama, the incarnate deity, is the t)^e of the fiUal son; 
Sita, of the faithful wife; Lakshmana, of the devoted 
brother. The story of Rama and Sita is thought by 
some to have been heightened by an infusion of Vedic 
myth; others regard them as simply humanized mythical 
characters. The sects that reverence Rama are not as 
nimierous as those that reverence Krishna. 

i6i. The Institutes of Vishnu, not earlier than 
200 A.D., is a law book that affords interesting evidence 
that such pantheistic theology as that of the Bhagavad- 
Gita was unable to expel the old ceremonies from any 
considerable section of even that part of Hindu life 
affected by the Vishnuite sects. In the Institutes it is 
still made obUgatory to offer burnt offerings to Agni, 
Soma, Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and others;^ such was the 
influence of Vedic scripture. Nevertheless in another 

»Cf. I Sam. 30:1-6. 

' See Sacred Books of the East, VII, chap. Ixvii, p. 3. 



HINDUISM 193 

chapter the pantheistic doctrine of the all-embracing 
Vishnu is set forth/ While such sacrifices are inculcated 
in one chapter, another declares that a "Brahmana may 
beyond doubt obtain final emancipation by solely repeat- 
ing (prayers), whether he perform any other rehgious 
observance or no; one who is benevolent towards all 
creatures (and does not slay them for sacrifice) is justly 
called a Brahmana (or one united to Brahman).''^ 
Each of the twenty-one hells of Manu is declared to be 
the residence for a specified time of sinners who have not 
performed the proper penance,^ but such sinners will be 
reborn, each as a different animal. One who steals vege- 
tables containing leaves will become a peacock; one who 
steals a horse, a tiger; one who steals a woman, a bear,^ 
etc. Nothing could better illustrate the confusion that 
arose from perpetuating the old, developing it at some 
points, and at the same time attempting to combine 
with it a philosophy which denied the vaHdity of the old. 
Many influences have in the course of centuries made 
themselves felt in Vishnuite thought and many sects 
have developed. This has been due in part to the phi- 
losophies described in section 156. Some of the sects 
stand for lofty ethics and real theism; some of them 
have degenerated to immorality. Those of the last- 
mentioned type are found most often among the sects 
that have substituted love of Krishna for intellectual 
contemplation of him. They frequently manifest this 
love by imitating his relations with his various wives. 
A good example of these is the sect of Vallabhacaris, 
named for its founder Vallabhacarya, who was born 

^ Ibid., chap, xcviii. 3 Ibid., chap, xliii. 

' Ibid., chap, iv, ai. * Ibid., chap. xliv. 



194 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

about 1478 A.D. The members of the sect work them- 
selves up into great emotional manifestations, in which 
they frequently roll unconscious on the ground. They 
hold that love for Krishna should be manifested by 
imitating his devotion to his favorite concubine Radha, 
and, as they have abolished the rules of caste, many loose 
characters are found among them. Emotionalism thus 
naturally degenerates into Hcense. The priests of the sect 
are regarded as representatives of Krishna on earth and 
claim and receive honors due to him. Women are taught 
that the highest bhss is secured to them and their families 
by receiving the caresses of Krishna's representatives. 
The priests also claim and receive the jus primae noctis. 
162. The Civaites. — Side by side with the evolu- 
tion of the worship of Vishnu the worship of fiva 
developed. As already noted, fiva was Rudra under 
another name. Unlike Vishnu, fiva is not believed to 
have become incarnate. Another divergence is foimd 
in the fact that with fiva many goddesses appear to be 
associated. There is not only his wife Devi, but Gauri, 
the bright one; Sati, the faithful wife; Parvati, the 
daughter of the mountains; Kali, the black one; Bhai- 
ravi, the terrible; Karala, the horrible. Perhaps these 
were originally but various names of Devi. The con- 
ception of fiva and his goddesses is not purely Aryan. 
Many elements from the aboriginal races of India have 
been gathered into it. To these goddesses the terrifying 
powers of the Vedic Rudra are now largely attributed, 
so that Qivdi. himself is more nearly the auspicious one. 
The most common emblem of fiva is the phaUus (lingam) 
and its female counterpart, the yoni. The philosophical 
affinities of fivaism are with the dualistic philosophies 



HINDUISM 195 

of Sankhya and Yoga rather than with the monistic 
systems. Though the fivaite sects are not so numerous 
as the Vishnuite, there are several. To some of these 
fiva is the " Great Yogin," who, besmeared with ashes 
and with matted hair, sits under the Pipa-tree, and who 
through meditation has become a god. Such worshipers 
imitate him. Megasthenes, when in India, saw another 
side to f iva, whom he identified with the Greek, Dionysos 

In QivsL as worshiped by the f akta sect the baser 
side of Vedic religion — that element that worshiped 
Soma — has survived and been reinforced by other ele- 
ments drawn from aboriginal Indian cults. Man is 
recognized as a creature of passions, and it is held that 
it is by means of these passions that he is to cross the 
region of darkness to union with ^iva. Passion is 
poison, but poison can be killed only by poison. Hence 
the five things that have caused man's ruin — wine, 
flesh, fish, mystic gesticulations, and sexual indulgence — 
are employed by them in religious orgies. In this sect 
the gakti, or female principle, assumes the leading place. 

163. The triad. — ^Although there is much rivalry 

between the worshipers of Vishnu and of fiva, this 

rivalry is not imiversal. In the south of India the two 

are often coupled together under the name Hari-Hara 

and worshiped as one god. In other places their temples 

are often in the same sacred inclosure. In certain 

circles Brahman was added, and the three adored as a 

triad. Thus KaHdasa, the Shakespeare of India, sang: 

In those three persons the one God was shown — 
Each first in place, each last — ^not one alone; 

Of Civa, Vishnu, Brahma,^ each may be 
First, second, third, among the Blessed Three. 

' Another sDellins of Brahman. 



196 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

It was by the formation of a triad that certain thinkers 
reconciled the rival claims of various sects. 

164. Temples. — ^While the Vedic religion had no 
permanent holy places, Hinduism has long erected 
temples all over India. Benares, the Jerusalem of 
India, has the largest number. There are at least two 
thousand temples there, not counting smaller shrines. 
The temples vary greatly in size and splendor.' Each 
contains one or more idols, except temples of QiwsLj 
whose emblem is the lingam. The larger temples support 
extensive priesthoods as well as bands of musicians and 
dancing girls. In temples where there are idols it is the 
duty of the priests to awaken them each morning, make 
their toilets, burn incense before them, and offer them 
food. The number of temples and shrines is continually 
increasing. The scene of some unusual event, or the 
abode of some person accounted sacred, is sufficient to 
mark out a spot for a shrine. There is not an object in 
heaven or on earth that the Indian is not prepared to 
worship. He holds all Ufe sacred, plant as well as animal. 
All living things are venerated, but the cow is regarded 
as most sacred. She typifies the all-yielding earth, and 
is the chief source of nourishment of every Hindu. The 
ox is the indispensable agent of agricultural labor. 
Images of the typical cow of plenty are sold in the 
bazaars and bought as objects of reverence, and sacred 
cows are found in many temples. 

165. The Sikhs. — Early in the fifteenth century a 
reformer, Kabir by name, assailed idolatry and broke 
away from all authority, whether Hindu or Mohamme- 
dan. His followers were to conform to no rites. Several 

' For pictures of some of these, see V. A. Smith, Early History of 
India, pp. 428, 465. 



HINDUISM 197 

sects trace their spiritual ancestry to him. Of these the 
Kabir Panthis regard Kabir as a god. The most impor- 
tant of them are, however, the Sikhs, founded toward 
the end of the fifteenth century by Nanak, a professed 
follower of Kabir. Under the influence of Islam he 
endeavored to purge Vishnuism of superstition. He 
taught a monotheistic faith. God is Supreme Lord by 
whatever name he is called. Deliverance from the 
round of rebirths and reabsorption into God was, he held, 
an act of free grace, communicated by means of a formula 
which could be taught only by one who stood in apostolic 
succession to Kabir and himself. Nanak's son, Arjim, 
compiled the Granth, or Sikh Bible. It contains utter- 
ances of Kabir, Nanak, and of many of the older Hindu 
saints, to which Arjun added some of his own. The 
Sikhs became a wealthy and militant community, which 
played an important part in Amritsar in the eighteenth 
and nineteenth centuries. The fourth in succession 
from Nanak built a temple at Amritsar. 

166. Modem Hindu reforms. — The impact of Chris- 
tianity and Western civiHzation upon India has led to 
at least two noteworthy efforts to adjust Hinduism to 
modem conditions. The earliest of these efforts is 
the Brahma Samaj (Society of God), founded in 1828 
by Ram Mohan Ray, a distinguished, broad-minded 
Brahman. It has had since his death two other dis- 
tinguished leaders, Debendra Nath Tagore and Keshab 
Chandra Sen. As each of these leaders stood for a some- 
what different religious position, and as there were some 
members of the society who, at each new departure, pre- 
ferred the older view, the Brahma Samaj is now composed 
of three wings. All branches of it agree that Gk)d is 



iqS the religions of the world 

a personal being, that he never became incarnate, that 
he hears and answers prayer, that he is to be worshiped 
only in spiritual ways, that men of all castes may worship 
him acceptably, that repentance and cessation from sin ! 
are the only way to forgiveness and salvation, and that/ 
nature and intuition are the sources of the knowledge of' 
God, no book being authoritative. The branch of it 
led by Keshab Chandra Sen is known as the "New 
Dispensation Samaj." It adds to the articles already 
mentioned belief that the soul is immortal; that God is 
a Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit; that God is Mother 
as well as Father; that God speaks through inspired 
men as well as through nature and intuition; that 
Brahmanism is a universal religion ; and that the Brahma 
Samaj is God's latest dispensation and its missionaries 
his apostles. In 1901 there were but 4,050 members in 
all three branches of the society. 

The Arya Samaj (Society of the Noble) was founded 
in 1875 by Mul Sankar, better known as Swami Daya- 
nand Sarasvati, who was born as a member of the Qiva, 
cult, broke away from it for the Vedanta philosophy, 
and finally became a rehgious reformer on the basis of 
the Sankhya-Yoga philosophies. Dayanand Sarasvati 
had come in contact with modem civilization through 
many channels, and endeavored to reform Hinduism to 
meet the conditions of modern Hfe. He taught belief 
in a personal God, who is all-truth, all-knowledge, incor- 
poreal, almighty, just, merciful, unbegotten, unchange- 
able, all-pervading, and the cause of the universe. The 
Vedas are the books of true knowledge; one should 
always be ready to accept truth ; all ought to be treated 
with love, justice, and in disregard of their merits; 



HINDUISM 199 

ignorance should be dispelled; and everyone should 
regard his prosperity as included in that of others. His 
great cry was "back to the Vedas." He professed to 
derive all his teaching from them, but the method of 
interpretation by which he extracted the true doctrine 
and put aside all that contradicted it was peculiarly his 
own. It conformed neither to Hindu canons of inter- 
pretation nor to those of scientific exegesis. According 
to him salvation was to be accomplished by effort. No 
distinctions of caste are regarded vaHd. 

It is estimated that the adherents of the Arya Samaj 
now number about 100,000. The Samaj is now divided 
in to a " cultured ' ' and a conservative party. The former 
eats meat and fosters modern education, maintaining 
a creditable college at Lahore; the latter is vegetarian, 
and adheres to the ancient ideas of education. 

167. Summary. — Hinduism, which is still the religion 
of some 200,000,000 people, presents almost endless 
variety of faith and practice. These diversities have 
been created by the various influences, internal and 
external, that have swept over India since the Vedic 
age. It has no rallying-point; it stands for no one great 
idea or ideal. Some of its ideas are beautiful; many of 
its ideals noble; but in general it lacks consistency and 
coherency. In most of its varied manifestations Hindu- 
ism suffers by the divorce of rehgion from Kfe. Salva- 
tion is to be attained by intellectual absorption or by 
some ritual acts. That it should affect conduct most 
of the systems deny or ignore.' The ideals of the 

* The separation between religion and morals is implied in chap, vi 
of the Advanced Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics used in the 
Central Hindu College at Benares, where emphasis is also laid upon 
religion as a contemplation of God. See pp. 221-37. 



200 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Bhagavad'Gita are noble, but Krishna as he is worshiped 
in Bengal fosters prostitution in his temples, while the 
cult of Qiva. often degenerates to immoral orgies. For 
the most part Hinduism is ethically impotent and many 
of her holy men are gross. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 155: cf. V. A. Smith, Early History of India, Including the 
Campaigns of Alexander (Oxford, 19 14). 

On sees. 156, 160: Hopkins, Religions of India, chap. xiv. 

On sees. 157, 159: Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New 
York, 1 901); or J. C. Oman, Indian Epics, the Ramayana 
and Mahdbhdrata (London, 1906); and the translations in 
Dutt, Mahdbhdrata, The Epic of Ancient India (London, 1899). 

On sec. 158: Sir'Edwm Arnold, The Song Celestial {Boston, igog). 

On sec. 161: Hopkins, The Great Epic of India, chap, iii; or 
G. F. Moore, History of Religions, 1, chap. xiii. 

On sees. 162-65: cf. Jacobi, "Brahmanism" in Hastings' Ency- 
clopaedia of Religion and Ethics, II; or Nicoll Macnicol, 
Indian Theism (Oxford University Press, 191 5), chaps, vii-xi; 
or M. Monier- Williams, Hinduism (14th ed., London, 1901), 
chaps, vii-xii. 

On sec. 166: cf. "Brahma Samaj" and "Arya Samaj" in Hastings' 
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 11. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions, I, chaps, xiii-xv. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 

Always and in everything let there be reverence; with the 
deportment grave as when one is thinking (deeply) and with 
speech composed and definite. — Li Ki, l,i, i^ 

If a man observe the rules of propriety, he is in a condition of 
security; if he do not, he is in one of danger. — Lt Ki, I, i, 6^. 

That which I do not wish others to put upon me, I also wish 
not to put upon others. — Confucius, Analects, Book V. 

The Way (Tao) that can be trodden is not the enduring and 
unchanging Way (Tao). The name that can be named is not 
the enduring and unchanging name. — Tao Teh King, I, i, i. 

Always without desire we must be found, 
If its deep mystery we would sound; 
But if desire always within us be, 
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. 

— Tao Teh King, I, 1,3. 

The highest excellence is like that of water. The excellence 
of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, 
^dthout striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men 
dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao. — Tao Teh 
King, I, 8, I. 

168. The land, people, and history. — The cradle of 
Chinese civilization appears to have been the provinces 
of Shan-si and Kan-su in Northwest China — ^provinces 
watered by the Hwang-ho or Yellow River. The 
greater portion of these provinces lies between 35° and 
40° north latitude; they possess a dry and bracing 



202 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

climate. Millet grows here, as do apples, pears, grapes, 
melons, and walnuts. Sheep and cattle are raised, and 
the two-humped camel furnishes transportation. The 
date at which this civihzation developed is uncertain. 
Chinese chronographers have transmitted a list of 
dynasties that, added end to end, take us back to 2850 
B.C.* and tell us of long-lived mythological beings who 
ruled before this time and who invented the chief features 
of civilization. Some scholars count all this material 
mythological down to about the tenth century B.C.,* 
though the lengths of the various reigns as given in the 
lists are not impossibly long. The material is neverthe- 
less most uncertain before 2258 B.C., when the Hia 
dynasty ascended the throne. It is said to have ruled 
until 1766 B.C., when it was displaced by the Shang or 
Yin dynasty, which is said to have held the scepter imtil 
1 122 B.C. As both Babylonian and Egyptian sources 
exaggerate the lengths of the reigns of the early rulers of 
those countries, it is quite possible that the Chinese 
sources do the same. It may well be, therefore, that the 
beginnings of its civilization do not extend farther back 
than 2500 B.C. 

The Chinese have no traditions concerning the 
entrance of their ancestors into the country. Efforts 
have been made by some scholars to connect them with 
the Stmierians of Babylonia,^ or the Elamites,"* but the 
efforts are far from convincing. It is probable that the 

'See F. Hirth, Ancient History of China (New York, 191 1), pp. 7 
and 329. 

' So H. A. Giles, History of Chinese Literature (New York, 1901). 
5 C. J. Ball, Sumerian and Chinese (Oxford, 1914). 
* So Lacouperie; cf. Hirtii, op. cit., pp. 14 flf. 



' THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 203 

Chinese developed out of the MongoHan stock in the 
region where they still live. 

The Shang dynasty was followed by the imperial 
Chow dynasty, 1122-249 ^-C- During this period 
China, which had been extended considerably beyond 
its original borders, became a feudal state, whose nominal 
suzerains were, after about 700 B.C., often unable to 
control the nobles of its component parts. Nevertheless, 
by the sixth century B.C., society was tolerably stable 
and secure, people Hved in well-built houses, dressed in 
silk and homespun, wore leather shoes, carried umbrellas, 
sat on chairs, used tables, rode in carts and chariots, ate 
their food from plates and dishes of pottery, and meas- 
ured time by a sundial.' 

The Chow dynasty was overthrown by the Prince of 
Tsin, the most northwesterly province of China, who 
took the name of Shi Hwang- ti, or "first emperor." 
He built the Great Wall to protect the country from 
incursions of Tartars on the north, and so impressed 
his influence upon the country that, though his 
dynasty fell in 205 B.C., the name of his province Tsin 
has ever since been applied to the whole country. 
It is the original of our English name China. 
Since its fall twenty-one dynasties have ruled in 
China, the last of which, the Tsing dynasty, fell in 
1912. 

The dominant race first pushed its way eastward 
along the Yellow River to the sea, through the provinces 
of Shan-si, Ho-nan, and Shan-tung, then southward to 
the Yang-tsze-kiang, then on to the borders of India. 
In the course of the centuries political ascendency has 

' Cf. Giles, op. ciL, p. 5. 



204 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

also been extended over Manchuria, Mongolia, Eastern 
Turkestan, and Tibet. 

169. The primitive popular religion. — ^There is abun- 
dant evidence that when the Chinese civilization 
developed, the people were in that stage of evolution 
known as animistic, and believed every object to be the 
abode of a spirit. Indeed, this is the beHef of the com- 
mon people of China at the present time. Chinese 
tradition accoimts for the origin of the universe by gen- 
eration from two souls or breaths called Yang and Yin, 
"the Yang representing Hght, warmth, productivity, and 
life, also the heavens from which all these good things 
emanate; and the Yin being associated with darkness, 
cold, death, and the earth. The Yang is subdivided 
into an indefinite number of good souls or spirits called 
shen, the Yin into particles or evil spirits called kwei, or 
specters; it is these shen and kwei which animate every 
being and every thing. It is they which constitute the 
soul of man. His shen, also called hwan, immaterial, 
ethereal, like heaven itself, from which it emanates, con- 
stitutes his intellect and the finer parts of his character, 
his virtues, v/hile his kwei, or poh, is thought to represent 
his less refined qualities, his passions, vices, they being 
borrowed from the material earth. Birth consists in 
the infusion of these souls; death in their departure, the 
shen returning to Yang or heaven, the kwei to the Yin or 
earth."' The world is crowded with shen and kwei. 
The air swarms with evil spirits innumerable. They 
infest public roads, especially at night, play all sorts of 
pranks upon people, and often Idll them. Against these, 
men defend themselves with drums, gongs, kettles, bows, 

'J. J. M. DeGroot, Religion of the Chinese (New York, 1910), p. 7. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 205 

spears, and flaming torches. "The gods are shen who 
animate heaven, sun, moon, the stars, wind, rain, 
clouds, thunder, fire, the earth, seas, moimtains, rivers, 
rocks, stones, animals, and plants. To these there have 
been added from time immemorial the souls of deceased 
men, especially of one's ancestors. To this innumerable 
company sacrifices of food and animals have been and 
still are offered. As among other animistic peoples, fear 
of the kwei or demons appears to be quite as potent as 
fear of the gods and ancestors. However, the Chinese 
believe that on the whole the Yang is above the Yin as 
the heaven is above the earth. 

As there was among men a chief ruler, so among the 
spirits there was a Shang-ti or supreme ruler. Some 
scholars translate this "God" and hold that the Chinese 
had attained monotheism at a very early time. As Shun, 
the second of China's historic kings (2258-2206 B.C.), 
is said by the Shu King^ to have sacrificed to 
Shang-ti, the Chinese would have attained monotheism 
at an early date, were the monotheistic claim true. 
Shun, at the time he sacrificed to Shang-ti, sacrificed 
also to six honored spirits, as well as to hills and rivers. 
He was accordingly not a monotheist. The people 
generally never worship Shang-ti so far as we know, and 
where Shang-ti is mentioned in the Shu King it is usually 
associated with Heaven,^ a spirit that seems equally 
powerful with Shang-ti. Although in one passage the 
impartation of moral ideas to men is attributed to 
Shang-ti,3 he is after all but a shadowy ruler, whose 

* Sacred Books of the East, III, 39. 
'Ibid., pp. 126, 161, 165. 
» Ibid., p. 88. 



2o6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

importance is soon overshadowed by Heaven.' In one 
passage even the earthly monarch is associated with 
him. No Chinese monotheism can be made out. 

170. The state religion of China is based on the 
five canonical books, or the books which Confucius 
rescued from the past and transmitted to posterity. 
These are the Shu King, or book of history, the Shi King, 
or book of odes, Hsiao King, or book of filial piety, the 
Yi King, or book of changes, a book of fanciful state 
philosophy deducted from a system of linear anagrams, 
and the Li Kt, or book of rites. In its present form the 
state rehgion has also been influenced by the Confucian 
classics, which were collected by later disciples and 
include the works of Mencius. The emperor is thought 
to be the son of Heaven, and the state rehgion is a 
worship of Heaven, Earth, and the spirits of the seasons, 
winds, Sim, moon, and rivers, on which the prosperity of 
the empire depends. Heaven is apparently not regarded 
as a personal being, but rather as an ethical pattern. 
Although frequently spoken of in a monotheistic fash- 
ion, the worship of Heaven is not monotheism. Heaven 
is itself beUeved to be composed of numerous spirits, 
and numerous spirits are worshiped in connection with it. 
The state rehgion is a kind of polydemonism. Fre- 
quently at the annual worship of Heaven sacrifices have 
been offered to the founders of dynasties, and to the 
spirit of the sovereign's predecessor, as well as to the 
spirits of the earth, rivers, etc. 

The emperor was, until the estabHshment of the 
republic in 191 2, the reHgious head of the nation. He 
could enlarge the pantheon by increasing the number of 

» Sacred Books of the East, III, 99. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 207 

spirits that were to be venerated, or reduce its size. 
Upon the proper performance of his religious duties the 
prosperity of the whole empire was supposed to depend. 
It was his exclusive right to worship Heaven. The per- 
formance of such worship on the part of local governors 
was regarded as a declaration of rebelHon. The local 
governors each in like manner worshiped the spirits of 
their respective provinces. The imperial sacrifices to 
Heaven were offered in the southern suburb of the 
capital; those to Earth, in the northern. The cere- 
monies varied in different dynasties. The Li Kt states^ 
that the offering to Heaven was made on the grand 
altar with a blazing fire of wood; that to Earth, by 
burying the victim in the great mound. In both cases 
the victim was red. By burying a sheep and a pig at 
the altar of Great Brightness they sacrificed to the 
seasons. With similar victims they sacrificed to the 
spirits of heat and cold, sun, moon, stars, winds, flood, 
rain, mountains, valleys, forests, streams, etc. The 
spirits worshiped were not all imaginary; many of them 
were ancestors of the sovereigns and princes. Thus 
according to the Lt Ki kings and feudal princes erected 
temples to father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great- 
great-grandfather, and remote ancestors. Each temple 
had a raised altar surrounded by an open area. In all 
of these, sacrifice? were offered every month. There 
were two other temples for more remote ancestors to 
which the tablets of the earlier princes ot the line were 
gradually remove* 1 At these only the seasonal sacrifices 
were offered.' 

» Ibid., XXVIII, 202 i 

^/6/J., XXVIII, 2041 



2o8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The Chinese appear to have had no way of securing 
divine oracles, but there were many forms of divination 
practiced by emperors and feudal princes. One very 
ancient method has come down to us in the Yt King, or 
book of changes. The anagrams appear to us about as 
meaningless as they could well be, but, if they were 
originally figures made by the falling of stalks or straws 
of different lengths, one can see why at the dawn of 
history they may have been thought to foreshadow 
coming events. 

The state religion was perpetuated down to the fall 
of the Manchu d3aiasty, so that it was possible for men 
now Kving to witness a form of worship the beginnings 
of which reach back far into the Bronze Age. The 
altar to Heaven, constructed of three terraces of white 
marble in an inclosure containing appropriate buildings 
for the preservation of tablets and for the convenience 
of the emperor, is entirely open to the sky.' It is 
situated on the south of Peking about three miles from 
the royal palace in a park of some five hundred acres 
surrounded by a brick wall fifteen feet high. The altar 
itself, together with the buildings mentioned, is sur- 
rounded by an inner wall. Here on the morning of the 
winter solstice the emperor, having passed the night in 
the Hall of Abstinence near the altar, in the gray dawn 
ascended the altar, prostrated himself in the prescribed 
manner and presented prayers to Heaven, sun, moon, 
stars, and planets, and to his ancestors. Tablets to all 
these had been placed upon altars appropriately erected 
on the different terraces, while in a great furnace, near 

' See Henry Blodget's full description in the Journal of the American 
Oriental Society, XX, 58-60 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 209 

by, a sacrificial holocaust was burned. The altar to 
Earth is at the north of the city in a park of about three 
hundred acres two miles from the imperial palace. It 
is square and built in two terraces of dark-colored marble. 
In the dawn of the day of the summer solstice the 
emperor here in a similar way worshiped Earth, two 
moimtains, three hills, four seas, and four great rivers. 
Both services were accompanied by music, and are said 
to have been simple and invested with a high degree of 
reverence and solemnity. 

171. Confucius and Confucianism. — ^The most influ- 
ential man in the whole history of China is K*^img- 
futze, or "master K*^ung," whose name is Latinized as 
Confudus. He was born in 551 B.C. in the Httle state of 
Lu in the territory of the modern province of Shan-tung. 
Little is known of his early Hfe. "At the age of fifteen 
he bent his mind to learning." When he was nineteen 
he married, but the marriage was not a happy one, 
and he afterward divorced his wife. The necessity of 
supporting his family (his wife bore him a son) led him 
to accept the office of keeper of the stores of grain, but at 
twenty-two he was released from the cares of office and 
became a teacher — ^an occupation in which he passed 
the rest of his life. In teaching he found time to study. 
He made the past, its history, records, and institutions, 
the object of his loving research. The state with its 
order and glory filled him with admiration. To order 
it, as well as the Hves of its citizens, aright was the aim 
of his teaching. He thus became a great moral and 
political philosopher. By thirty he "stood firm," he 
tells us; that is, he had formed opinions of his own. 
About this time his fame so increased that many noble 



210 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

youths enrolled themselves as his pupils. As years 
passed, his pupils increased; at one time their number 
is said to have been three thousand. The Hfe of Con- 
fucius fell in the feudal period, at a time when the central 
power found it difficult to maintain its authority over 
strong nobles. 

In 517 B.C. Confucius visited the city of Lu, the 
capital of the empire, where he was able to see the altars 
on which Heaven and Earth were worshiped, and where 
he could inquire more carefully into the history and 
precedents of the Chow dynasty. At Lu he is said to 
have had an interview with Lao-tze, China's other great 
sage, who was then an old man. In 516 Confucius 
followed his sovereign into exile in the neighboring state 
of Ts'i, but, finding that he could be of little service, he 
returned to Lu the next year. By the year 500 some 
degree of order was restored and Confucius was appointed 
ruler of the town of Chang-tu, where he soon effected 
great reforms. From this post he became superintend- 
ent of public works and later minister of crime. In the 
first office he effected great improvements in agriculture ; 
in the second his admirers say that he abolished crime. 
Nevertheless, in 495 he abandoned office because his 
sovereign did not live up to his high ideals. The next 
thirteen years were spent by Confucius in wandering 
from state to state, accompanied by a group of pupils. 
He hoped to find a prince who would Hsten to his coun- 
sels, but hoped in vain. In 483 B.C. he returned to the 
state of Lu, but did not re-enter public life. He died in 
478 B.C. 

Confucius left behind him a group of devoted pupils 
and the five Chinese canonical books, which he had 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA iJll 

collected and edited. His pupils collected a book of 
memorabilia of their master known as the Lun Yu 
or Analects. It is arranged in twenty short books or 
chapters, and records in a disconnected way many say- 
ings of the master. One book of the Analects, the tenth, 
is occupied with a description of the personal appear- 
ance, dress, and manners of Confucius. We learn from 
this that he was a strict formahst in all things, careful 
even as to the posture in w^hich he lay in bed ! 

Confucius was in no sense a rehgious reformer. To 
the end his rehgion was the rehgion of his ancestors. 
The remote past was to him a golden age, and his pur- 
pose was to perpetuate some of its golden characteristics. 
He aimed to estabHsh a high code of morals and a pure 
and efficient civil administration. His noblest ethical 
utterance is the negative form of the Golden Rule 
quoted at the head of this chapter. While on the whole 
his precepts inculcate a high order of morality, they 
apply, Hke those of the biblical Book of Proverbs, to 
the conduct of practical affairs and constitute neither a 
system of philosophy nor a system of theology. In 
matters of civil administration Confucius had Kttle 
opportunity to gain practical experience; he was from 
force of circumstances a theorist, but his insight into 
administrative affairs was keen and his maxims sound.' 

A himdred years after Confucius died Mencius (Meng 
Tze) was born. He was a disciple of Confucius, and 
did much to focus the influence of the earher teacher. 
Mencius laid less stress than his master upon sacrifices 
and the worship of Heaven and more on morals. The 
great emperor, Shi-Hvv^ang-ti, of the Tsin dynasty, 

' See Analects, Book XIII. 



212 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

endeavored toward the close of the third century B.C. to 
uproot Confucianism. He made a systematic effort to 
destroy all Confucian books, but was fortunately not 
completely successful. It was natural that with the 
accession of the Han dynasty, 205 B.C., there should be 
a reaction in favor of Confucius, and since that time he 
has grown steadily in favor of the state. His teaching 
has been expoimded and developed by three great 
teachers, the last and greatest of whom was Chu Hsi, 
who lived from 1130 to 1200 a.d. In i a.d. Confucius 
was canonized as ^'Duke Ni, the all complete and 
illustrious." In 57 a.d. it was ordered that sacrifices 
should be offered to him. In 492 a.d. he was styled 
''the venerable Ni, the accompHshed Sage." In 609 a 
temple was erected to him at every seat of learning. In 
659 he was styled "K^ung, the ancient Teacher, the 
perfect Sage." In 1907 the late Empress Dowager 
raised him to the first grade of worship,^ ranking him 
with Shang-ti. In 191 5 Yuan Shi Kai made Confucian- 
ism once more the religion of the state. 

The philosophy of the Confucian school, which has 
had much influence, not only in China, but in Japan, is 
that the ruling principle of heaven and earth is virtue. 
''Order is Heaven's only law." It is relationship to 
others in an orderly series which gives value to the 
individual. Order forms the kosmos; without it there 
is chaos and evil. A man exists only for society; 
position is more important than personality. In the 
state the emperor is the pivot; in the family, the father. 
But even the emperor rules by virtue; if this be want- 

>Cf. W. E. Soothill, The Three Religions of China (London, 
19^3), p. 34. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 213 

ing, he is onty a usurper, and rebellion against him is 
justified. 

172. Lao-tze and Taoism. — ^Lao-tze or Laocius, the 
second of China's great sages in importance, was born 
in 604 B.C. He is said to have Hved to the ripe old age 
of eighty years. He was for some years keeper of the 
archives of the imperial court. In his old age Lao-tze, 
on account of the signs of decay in the state, resigned 
his position and set out for the West to retire from the 
world. When he reached the frontier one of his dis- 
ciples, it is said, asked him to write a book, whereupon 
he wrote the Tao Teh King. This story comprises all 
that we know of the life of Lao-tze, and, as this comes 
from a writer many centuries later, its truth is involved 
in considerable doubt. Nevertheless the Tao Teh King 
gives us the oldest known form of the teachings of 
Lao-tze. 

In the system of Lao-tze the great and adorable 
thing is called Tao, a word that is practically untrans- 
latable. Perhaps "Nature" is its nearest equivalent in 
Enghsh, though it has been rendered "Way," "Power," 
"Reason," and even "God." To Lao-tze the Tao 
seemed the inexpressible Infinite. Here are some of 
his sayings about it: 

The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchan- 
ging Tao.^ 

He who knows the Tao does not care to speak about it; he 
who is ever ready to speak about it does not know it.' 

How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue! 
I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been 
before Shang-ti.^ 

' Tao Teh King {Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX), 1:7. 
»/6tti., S6:i. »/6«f., 4:3. 



214 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Those who know the Tao are not extensively learned; the 
extensively learned do not know it.* 

The grandest forms of active force 
From Tao come, their only source. 
Who can of Tao the nature tell ? 
Our sight it flies, our touch as well. 
Eluding sight, eluding touch, 
The forms of things all in it crouch; 
Eluding touch, eluding sight, 
There are their semblances, all right. 
Profoimd it is, dark and obscure; 
Things' essences all there endure. 
Those essences the truth enfold 
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.' 

The relation of the Tao to all the world is hke that of the 
great rivers and seas to the streams from the valleys.^ 

All-pervading is the great Tao! It may be found on the 
left hand and on the right .^ 

Such was Lao-tze's conception of the great Absolute 
into harmony with which man should try to come. 
The method of attaining this harmony was in his view 
a self -humiliating quietism. Thus he says: 

When its [the Tao's] work is accomplished, it does not claim 

the name of having done it Hence the sage is able in the 

same way to accomplish his great achievements. It is through 
his not making himself great that he can accomphsh them.s 

He who is satisfied with his lot is rich.* 

He [the sage] is free from display, and therefore he shines; 
from seK-assertion, and therefore he is distinguished; from self- 
boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged; from self- 
complacency, and therefore he acquires superiority.' 

* Tao Teh King {Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX), 8i : i. 

» Ibid., 21. * Ibid., 34: i. * Ibid., 33 : i. 

* Ibid., 32:5. s Ibid., 34: 2, 3. ^ Ibid., 22 : 2. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 215 

Who knows how white attracts, 
Yet always keeps hunself within black's shade, 
The pattern of humility displayed, 
Displayed in view of all beneath the sky; 
He in the unchanging excellence arrayed. 
Endless return to man's first estate has made. 

Who knows how glory shines, 

Yet loves disgrace, nor e'er for it is pale; 

Behold his presence in a spacious vale. 

To which men come from all beneath the sky. 

The unchanging excellence completes its tale; 

The simple infant man in him we hail.* 

These quotations, like the two from the Tao Teh 
King which stand at the head of this chapter, prove that 
in a quietistic self-effacement and lack of desire Lao-tze 
found the key to salvation. Like Confucius, he turned 
his face toward the past. The golden age of mankind's 
iafancy was to him the goal. The last poetical quota- 
tion made above clearly expresses this. To one who 
attained this "comes a kingliness of character; and he 
who is king-like goes on to be heaven-like. In that 
likeness to heaven he possesses the Tao. Possessed of 
the Tao he endures long.''* Here we have presented 
both the primitive Taoist idea of salvation and the 
method of its attainment. This attitude led Lao-tze in 
practical ethics to take higher ground than Confucius. 
His general principle was: "The soft overcomes the 
hard; and the weak, the strong. "^ He once said: "I 
have three precious things that I prize and hold fast. 
The first is gentleness; the second is economy; and 
the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others. "^ 

^Ihid., 28:1. ^Ihid.j 36:2; cf. 43:1. 

' Ihid., 16 : 2. * Ibid.f 67 : 2. 



2i6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Again: "It is the way of the Tao .... to consider 
what is small as great, and a few as many; and to 
recompense injury with kindness."' He thus rose 
almost to the gospel rule: "Do good to them that hate 
you/'* and far surpassed Confucius' negative form of 
the Golden Rule. 

As Confucius had his Mencius, so Lao-tze had a 
faithful disciple and interpreter in Kwang-tze, who was 
a contemporary of Mencius. Kwang-tze possessed one 
of the acutest minds China has produced, and devoted 
all his energies to the exposition and enforcement of the 
teachings of Lao-tze. His works rank next in impor- 
tance to the Tao Teh King in the literature of Taoism.^ 
He "was imable to persuade the practical Chinese 
nation that by doing nothing all things would be done." 

Kwang-tze's method was to unite opposites. Thus 
he says: "If the affirmation be according to reality of 
the fact, it is certainly different from the denial of it — 
there can be no dispute about that. If the assertion of 
an opinion be correct, it is certainly different from its 
rejection — ^neither can there be any dispute about that. 
Let us forget the lapse of time; let us forget the conflict 
of opinions. Let us make our appeal to the inj&nite, and 
take up our position there. ""» His idea seems to have 
been that by "ignoring the existence of contraries we 
are embraced in the obliterating unity of God."s His 

» Too Teh King {Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX), 63 : i. 

*Luke 6:27. 

3 They are translated by Legge in the Sacred Books of the East, 
XXXIX and XL. 

* See Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX, 196. 

sSee H. A. Giles, History of Chinese Literature (New York. 
1901), p. 62. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 217 

description of the Tao is in fuU accord with that of his 
great teacher, though with greater philosophical power 
he endeavored to reach a mystical union with it. 

After Kwang-tze, Taoism degenerated into the 
bizarre. This degeneration is said to have been greatly 
accelerated by Chang Tao Ling, born in 34 a.d., whose 
descendants are still, so to speak, Taoist popes in China. 
Taoists cUmb ladders of swords, seek for the elixir of 
immortality, and are dabblers in the occult. It adds 
each year fresh saints or gods to the pantheon, and 
fosters the worship of those spirits and ancestors in 
which the Chinese have always believed. The many 
secret societies of China are for the most part Taoist. 
The Boxer organization was one of these. Its tragic 
madness is still of recent memory.^ 

173. Buddhism in its northern form, Mahayana 
Buddhism, was introduced into China in the reign of 
Ming Ti, otherwise called Yung P^g, 58-76 a.d., 
though a knowledge of it had reached China through 
her trade with Nepal and India long before. For two 
and a half centuries after its introduction into the 
country no Chinese were permitted to become monks. 
After this condition was removed the rehgion rapidly 
spread. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries 
Fa Hien, Yuan Chwang, and I Tsin made pilgrimages 
to India and wrote accounts of what they saw. Bud- 
dhistic works were translated into Chinese. In 525 a.d. 
it is said that Boddhidharma, the twenty-eighth in the 
list of Buddha's successors, left his native land and 
migrated to China, where he became a kind of patriarch 
of Chinese Buddhism. 

^ W. E. Soothill, The Three Religions of China (London, 1913), p. 82. 



2i8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Confucianism was from the beginning opposed to 
Buddhism. The Buddhistic order of monks tended to 
loose the bonds of the family and the state, on which 
Confucianism had always laid great stress. Finally in 
the eighth century a.d. a state persecution of Buddhists 
compelled more than 12,000 monks to return to secular 
life. Another persecution in the ninth century destroyed 
4,600 monasteries and relegated to secular life 260,000 
monks and nuns. Still another in the tenth century 
closed 30,000 temples. Buddhism was not, however, 
exterminated. There were many who found in it that 
which met a spiritual need. 

Chinese Buddhism is closely akin to that of Tibet. 
There is the same behef in Boddhisattwas and in the 
efficacy of prayer. Tibetan Buddhism has taken up 
the Hindu notion of hell and heaven as temporary abodes 
between states of incarnation. The idea of transmigra- 
tion has never taken a deep root in China. It is some- 
what foreign to the national genius. The Buddhistic 
doctrines of heaven and hell have, however, given the 
Chinese an eschatology which neither Confucianism nor 
Taoism supplied. 

The order of monks has in China degenerated into a 
professional clergy, who drone long invocations, twirl 
their beads, and keep the lamp burning before tlie 
shrine of Buddha. Invocation and ceremonial have 
taken the place of meditation and ethical culture as 
a means of salvation, and the souls of the departed 
are believed to gain release from hell only through 
the prayers of the priest, for which he receives a 
good fee.' 

» W. E. Soothill, TJte Three Religions of China, pp. 105 ff. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 219 

174. The resultant religion. — Confucianism, Taoism, 
and Buddhism are not mutually exclusive religions, and 
in China millions think it better to gain what benefits 
they may from being on good terms with all three. One 
does not cease to be a devotee of one rehgion by appro- 
priating the benefits of another. The older religions, 
especially Taoism, have accordingly been modified to 
some extent by Buddhism. The popular conception of 
the divine is still the primitive polydemonism. In 
every household new spirits are continually worshiped 
as ancestors take their place among the departed. The 
moral ideals of the early Chinese canonical books are 
high, and these were advanced by the Confucian and 
Taoist schools. From the earliest times of which there 
is record moral wrong was thought to incur the punish- 
ment of Heaven. Punishment was, however, confined 
to this fife. It naturally followed that misfortune was 
thought to be the result of some sin. The ordinary 
Chinese term for sin therefore does not necessarily 
mean more than that one is miserable or unfortunate. 
Neither Confucianism nor Taoism carried punishment 
into a life beyond. Confucianism held that Heaven 
would receive the good man, hence one could be saved 
by effort. No Confucianist could think of an ancestor 
in hell; all one's ancestors took their places as a matter 
of course in heaven. Taoism taught a salvation by 
quietism, but was equally silent as to the fate of an evil 
man beyond this Ufe. 

With the coming of Mahayana Buddhism a definite 
idea of a future Hfe was introduced, and Taoism at 
least has now taken over the beliefs in heaven and hell. 
It has taken over the Buddhistic eschatology and theory 



220 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

of salvation, but has discarded the foreign terminology 
and instead substituted Chinese names.' According to 
the Buddhist theory salvation should come as the result 
of works crystallizing in character, but it is often sought 
through prayers and the intervention of priests. Even 
Buddhism has shared the tendency to beHeve in a multi- 
tude of spirits or gods. Chief among these is its savior, 
Amitabha, the coming Buddha, and a goddess of mercy, 
Kuan-yin, to whom both men and women appeal. 

The Taoists hold three deities in especial honor: 
Lao-tze, P'an-ku (Chaos, or the maker of the world), 
and Yii Hwang Shang Ti, a Taoist who was apotheosized 
by the emperor in 1116 a.d., and who is often popularly 
confused with Shang-ti. In addition to these, Taoists 
pray to Hsi Wang Mu, the Royal Mother of the Western 
Paradise, and T^ien Fei, the Queen of heaven.* 

Sacrifices are freely offered, the favorite victim being 
a pig, but such sacrifices are not looked upon as expiating 
sin. They are rather to propitiate a god or a spirit, or 
are thank-offerings for favors already received.^ Neither 
in the state religion nor in Confucianism has a priest- 
hood ever developed. Buddhist and Taoist monks have 
become a sort of priesthood, but, even so, they are not 
wholly analogous to the priesthood of other countries. 
Divination is a very old art in China, where it has 
always been held that the will of the divine could be 
disclosed. In such divination Taoist monks and Bud- 
dhistic monks and nuns profess to be adepts. The 
favorite instruments of divination are stalks of grass 

» Soothill, The Three Religions of China, p. 261. 
» Ihid., pp. 82 and 269 ff. 
^Ibid., p. 156. 



THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 22i 

and tortoise shells. The tortoise is to them the emblem 
of longevity or immortality. The marks on its back 
are regarded as significant.' There was no consulting 
of entrails as in the West. There is almost no trace of 
phallic worship, and the Chinese appear never to have 
sanctioned such orgies as those of the Semitic mother- 
goddess, or of the fiva fakta sect in India. Both 
Confucius and Lao-tze have shared the fate of Zoroaster, 
Gautama, Krishna, and Mahavira; they have been 
exalted by their followers from the earth and given a 
place among the gods. 

It has been said that " Confucianism ministers to the 
moral man. Taoism deals chiefly with the problems of 
the spirit forces which play upon the present Hfe of men, 
and Buddhism makes vivid the future life and thus' 
appeals to the reHgious sense, to the imagination, and 
to devotion. Confucianism deals with the visible 
present, Taoism with the invisible present, and Bud- 
dhism with the invisible future."^ While this is true, 
none of these religions is adequate to the needs of 
Chinese Hfe. Confucianism presents a moral ideal, but 
offers no sufficient aid to its attainment. Taoism, 
always vague, is, in its modern debased form, a mass of 
superstitions which hold the devotee in perpetual fear. 
Buddhism, although its doctrines reach into the unseen 
and its ideals are noble, has long ago become formal and 
traditional. Its elaborate Mahayana doctrines are 
received by the mind, but are too often impotent to 
mold the Hfe. Even in the mind they are clouded by 

^Soothill, ibid., pp. 163-70; cf. DeGroot, The Religion of the 
Chinese, p. 74. 

' Sherwood Eddy, The Students of Asia (New York, 1915), p. 91. 



222 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the superstitions that other forms of Chinese thought 
foster. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 1 68: Hirth, The Ancient History of China (New York, 

191 1); or S. Wells Williams, A History of China (New 

York, 1897), pp. I-S2. 
On sec. 169: J. J. M. DeGroot, The Religion of the Chinese (New 

York, 1910), chaps, i-iii. 
On sec. 170: Blodget, "The Worship of Heaven and Earth by 

the Emperor of China," Journal of the American Oriental 

Society, XX, 58-68; or W. E. Soothill, The Three Religions 

of China (London, 1913), Lecture XI. 
On sees. 171, 172: J. Legge, The Religions of China (London, 1881) ; 

R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Taoism (London, 1900); 

or J. J. M. DeGroot, The Religion of the Chinese, chaps, v 

and vi; or Soothill, Three Religions of China, Lectures II and 

III. • 
On sec. 173: W. E. Soothill, The Three Religions of China, 

Lecture V; or J. J. M. DeGroot, The Religion of the Chinese, 

chaps, vi and vii. 
On sec. 174: W. E. Soothill, The Three Religions of China, Lectures 

V-X,XII. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions, I, chaps, i-v. 



CHAPTER Xn 

THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 

Now of the various offences to be committed .... some 
are of heaven and others of earth. Heavenly offences are the 
breaking down of divisions between rice-fields, filling up of water- 
courses, removing water-pipes, flaying alive, flaying backwards. 
.... Earthly offences are the cutting of Hving bodies, the 
cutting of dead bodies, leprosy, incest, calamities from creeping 
things, from the high gods and from high birds, killing of cattle, 
bewitchments. 

Whensoever these offences are committed, for committed 
they will be, let the great Nakatomi^ cUp heavenly twigs at the 
top and clip them at the bottom, making thereof a complete array 
of one thousand stands for offerings. Having trimmed rushes of 
heaven at the top and trimmed them at the bottom, let them 
spht them into a manifold brush. Then let them recite this 
great Htiurgy. 

When they do so, the gods of heaven, thrusting open the 
adamantine doors of heaven and cleaving the many-piled clouds 
of heaven with an awful way-cleaving, will approach and lend 
ear. The gods of earth, ascending to the tops of the high moim- 
tains and the tops of the low mountains, sweeping away the 
mists of high mountains and the mists of low mountains, will 
approach and lend ear. — From the Norito Shinto ritual.' 

175. The land, people, and history.^ Japan comprises 
a group of islands, partly mountainous, which lie off the 
eastern coast of Asia. They stretch in a curve from 
about 31° to 45° of north latitude. Two races, probably 

* The name of an early Japanese minister of state. 
' From W. G. Ashton, History of Japanese Literature (London, 1899), 
pp. II f. 

22^ 



224 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

both of Mongol stock (though ethnologists differ about 
it), occupied ancient Japan, the Ainu and the Yamato. 
The Ainu were first in the islands; the Yamato appear 
to have entered Japan by way of Korea. It has recently 
been shown that their language is closely akin to that of 
Korea, notwithstanding striking differences in vocabu- 
lary. Japanese m)rthology and legendary lore begin 
with the coming of the Yamato. They appear to have 
reached the central part of the main island in the early 
centuries of the Christian era. Japanese mythological 
chronology carries the tune back to the sixth or seventh 
century B.C., but there seems little ground for regarding 
it as trustworthy. 

By the third or fourth century of our era the Yamato 
had conquered the central portion of the main island of 
what was afterward to be Japan, and that slow evolu- 
tion began which was to produce the Japanese nation. 
The people at this time lived in huts; there were neither 
cities nor temples. The huts were collected in rude 
hamlets. The chief occupations were huntiug and 
fishing; some rude agriculture was practiced — chiefly 
the raising of rice; commerce was unknown; iron 
implements were used. The family was only partially 
organized. Marriage was only the open acknowledg- 
ment of a relation that had previously existed in secret. 
There was no definite distinction between marriage 
and concubinage, and not until centuries later was such 
a disttQction established. A husband might have such 
wives as he pleased with families in different places. 
Marriages with half-sisters (children of different mothers) 
were not uncommon, and marriages with full sisters some- 
times occurred. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 225 

From this state the evolution was slow; it was finally 
hastened by influences from China. Contact with China 
in the sixth century led to the introduction into Japan 
of the Chinese system of writing, and of Buddhism. It 
also brought a knowledge of the Confucian philosophy, 
which led to the formulation of Shinto, or the state 
religion. Supported by this the emperors, who were 
now believed to be descended from Izanagi and Izanami, 
the two primal deities who gave birth to all the other 
gods and to the islands of Japan, began a career of con- 
quest and of vigorous government. The oldest chronicle 
of Japanese history that has come down to us was 
written in 712 a.d. From that time onward the record of 
events is fairly complete. Through the Nara epoch 
(710-94 A.D.), when the capital was changed with every 
sovereign, and through the Heian epoch (794-1186 a.d.) 
the empire continued to grow. The custom of mak- 
ing imperial oflfices hereditary in the same family pre- 
vailed. 

With officeholders there was no distinction between 
pubKc funds and their own private resources. Thus a 
powerful feudal nobility developed, which at the end 
of the Heian era the imperial power could no longer 
control. In the reign of the emperor Gotoba, 1186- 
99 A.D., the title of seii-taishogun, or generalissimo, 
was conferred upon Yoritomo, a powerful noble of 
Kamakura, who thus became the virtual ruler of the 
country. From that time until 1868, except for the 
brief period between 1339 and 1393, when the imperial 
government reasserted itself and once more controlled 
the land, the real government of the country was in the 

* See K. Asakawa, History of Japan (Philadelphia, 1906), pp. 66 ff. 



226 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

hands of nobles, who were called Shoguns, an abbrevia- 
tion of the original title. From 1186 to 1339 the 
Shoguns resided at Kamakura; from 1393 to 1573, at 
Muromachi in Kyoto; from 1573 to 1868 a Yedo 
family held the Shogunate and resided in Yedo. In 
1868 the imperial power was restored, and the modem 
Japanese era began. 

The tradition of the descent of the emperor from the 
gods clothed him through all the centuries with such 
respect that, though the Shoguns did not hesitate to 
rob him of political power, none of them ever set him 
aside or put himself in place of an emperor. During 
the feudal period many wars were waged, and a class 
of knightly warriors called samurai was developed. 
The knightly code of this class, known as Bushido, 
represents Japanese ethics in its highest development. 

176. The primitive religion of the Japanese was of the 
rudest sort. The conception of animate life enter- 
tained by the early Japanese was that men, animals, and 
gods (if gods they can be called) formed one society. 
In reality kami, often translated "god," means simply 
a marvelous or wonderful being. A Japanese scholar 
declares that kami ''lies between super-man and super- 
human being. "^ Kami was applied to the sun, the 
heavens, the winds; but it was also applied to hmnan 
beings, beasts, plants, trees, seas, mountains, and to all 
other things that excite wonder or fear. The kami of 
the earliest time are for the most part human beings, 
though the fox and serpent are also kami. The wolf 
and tiger were kami; it is also sometimes applied to 
peaches, jewels, and the leaves of plants. It thus 

» See I. Nitobe, Ti^ Japanese Nation (New York, 1912), p. 123. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 227 

appears that the early Japanese conception of the 
divine was of a most rudimentary nature. Whatever 
excited wonder and fear they reverenced. To them, as 
to the Semites, the mystery of the propagation of Kfe 
was most marvelous. PhaUic emblems accordingly 
were widely employed as symbols of the divine. To 
them as to the primitive Semites the mystery of father- 
hood and motherhood was the mystery of creation.' 
In reverencing the symbols of these they reverenced 
the divine in one of its most wonderful and beneficent 
forms. They put no wide difference between them- 
selves and a transcendent creator, for their minds had 
not grasped the idea of such a creator. Among such 
primitive men these symbols cannot be regarded as 
obscene; they represented one of the most potent 
manifestations of the supernatural, and they excited 
in them as much reverence as they were capable of feel- 
ing toward anything. 

The objects of worship of the early Japanese were, 
then, the mysterious processes of nature and her awe- 
inspiring phenomena — heavenly bodies, sky, mountains, 
and rivers. Of these they appear to have made no rep- 
resentations, for the originals were always with them. 
The one exception seems to be the mirror, the symbol 
of the sun-goddess, in which she was worshiped as 
though herself present.^ 

To these men the universe was small. Heaven was 
so near that it had been reached by an arrow which made 

"See E. Buckley, Phallicism in Japan (Chicago, 1895); W. E. 
Griffis, The Religions oj Japan (New York, 1895), PP* 27 ff. 

' Compare G. W. Knox, The Development of Religion in Japan 
(New York, 1907), p. 31. 



228 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

a hole in its bottom, from which objects fell to the earth, 
where they are still found. Heaven and earth were 
formerly connected by a bridge, but that had, imfortu- 
nately, fallen down. The underworld was a cavern in 
the earth, the entrance to which was formerly open, 
though now blocked by a large rock. Heaven is like 
the earth; the spirits that dwell in it gather in the dry 
beds of rivers for consultation. The underworld is, 
according to some legends, also similar to the earth; it 
contains meadows, rivers, and dwellings large and small. 

Not in heaven, earth, or the underworld were the 
divisions between the orders of life fixed. '* Fishes, 
beasts, birds, and serpents acted and spoke as men." 
"Crocodiles or sea-monsters became women, and men 
became birds, a rock fled before a man, the sun was at 
once the orb of day and a goddess who could be enticed 
from retiracy by an appeal to her vanity, while the moon 
and the storm were beings who acted like men."' There 
was no distinction between men and inanimate nature. 
A goddess is only a wonderful woman, but she gives 
birth to fire. The Japanese of this period recognized no 
distinction between body and soul. Man was man, and 
that was all. Many myths grew up to account for the 
facts of life as they knew it, but there is Httle of religion 
in it all. They betray no idea of a creator; the world 
was produced by natural generation from a god and a 
goddess, or a male and a female kami. No conscious- 
ness of sin can be detected, and consequently there was 
no conception of redemption. There was not even the 
idea of a soul. Such religion as there was consisted 
solely of awe in the presence of the marvelous. 

* See Knox, op. cU., p i8. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 229 

177. Shinto, or the "way of the gods/* is the elabora- 
tion and organization of the primitive beKefs in the 
interest of the reigning house. The term ^'Shinto" is 
Chinese, and was employed by Confucius centuries 
before its adoption by the Japanese. Shinto was 
developed in the seventh or eighth century. By that 
time the dynasty that still reigns in Japan had obtained 
considerable power over the previously disorganized 
country. Intercourse with China had been estab- 
lished; Buddhism was coming in, and with it some 
knowledge of Confucianism. The mass of the people 
were, however, still imbued with their ancestral con- 
ceptions, and to bind them to the reigning family the 
old cosmogonic myth was retold and elaborated. 
According to this myth Izanagi, the primal male 
deity, and Izanami, the primal female deity, had by 
natural generation brought forth the other gods and the 
Islands of Japan. The genealogy was now extended 
so that it appeared that through a Kne of divine 
ancestors the imperial family (to use a later term) 
was descended from these same gods. Thus the 
natural reverence for the spirits in which their fore- 
fathers had beheved was focused upon the reigning 
dynasty. 

Along with this older worship there went as a natural 
development, under Chinese influence, an increased 
reverence for departed ancestors. This became pos- 
sible because, under the stimulus of the Confucian rever- 
ence for the family, Japanese marriage became somewhat 
more regulated, the family attained greater cohesion, 
and ancestors were in time regarded with reverence. 
Little by little they took their places next to the kami 



230 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

and were reverenced also. Thus in Shinto doctrine 
man is in this Kfe kindred to the divine, and after death 
joins the company of those who are to be reverenced. 
The deities of the Shinto pantheon range from the most 
insignificant gods, "whom pious spinsters respect as the 
spirits of sewing-needles or those to whom kitchen maids 
do homage as residing in the furnace, up to those who 
roar in thunder, or shine in lightning, or ride upon the 
whirlwind. Shinto is the most polytheistic of poly- 
theisms."^ The Shintoist does not ''pray for forgive- 
ness of sins, but for the sweet things of this life, for 
happiness, but not for blessedness."^ The worshiper 
may be conscious that his heart is not of a divine 
quality of purity, but "he can of his own accord blow 
it off like dust, or wash it off like a stain, and regain 
purity."^ 

The shrines of Shinto are unusually simple. They 
are the plainest of wooden structures, "of an ancient 
form of architecture, unpainted and undecorated, 
usually in the shade of cryptomeria groves." The 
chief ministers of religion in Shinto belonged to particu- 
lar famihes, upon whom the emperor often bestowed 
offices and titles. They married, dressed like others, 
and were in no way distinguishable from other men, 
except when officiating at Shinto rites. At some of the 
shrines there were virgin priestesses who acted as 
custodians."* Offerings, consisting of fruits, products of 
the soil, products of the sea, and fabrics of the loom, 

* Nitobe, The Japanese Nation, p. 131. 

'Ibid,, p. 124. 

^Ibid., p. 128. 

< Griffis, The Religions of Japan, p. 84. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 231 

were made in ancient times. These are now often 
reduced to paper imitations.' 

Shinto has little teaching for the conduct of private 
individuals. The god of Fujiyama is said to have 
enjoined upon his followers the following: "Ye men 
of mine, shun desire. If you shun desire you will 
ascend to the level of the gods. Every little yielding to 
anxiety is a step away from the natural heart of man. 
If one leaves the natural heart of man he becomes a 
beast. That men should be made so is to me intoler- 
able pain and unending sorrow."* Such statements 
are, however, generally wanting in Shinto documents. 
Japanese ethics has been developed by other systems. 
The rituals consist largely of adoration and thanks- 
giving. Such prayers as it affords are national rather 
than individual. In the complete form of Shinto 
prayers the emperor appears as the high priest of his 
people. Just as the emperor of China worships heaven 
and earth, so the emperor of Japan intervenes between 
the kami and the nation. 

The organization of the primitive beliefs into Shinto 
never took deep hold of the nation as a whole; it 
remained the religion of the few. It had sufficient 
power to sustain the imperial line as a figurative head 
of the nation during the centuries of feudal rule, and 
probably had some influence in bringing about the 
restoration of the imperial line to power in 1868. 
Since that time Shinto has called forth from its 
modern devotees some ingenious defenses. Men 
skilled in modern dialectics, and possessing some 

'Ibid., p. 83. 

* Nitobe, The Japanese Nation, p. 134. 



232 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

knowledge of science, have defended its stories and 
its miracles/ 

178. Buddhism was introduced into Japan in the 
sixth century a.d. Its coming was at first resisted by 
the people, and the images of the Buddha were destroyed, 
but in 584, when a plague of smallpox grew worse after 
the image of Buddha had been thrown into a canal, the 
image was rescued and set up with the approval of the 
emperor.* At first the Japanese were averse to it, but 
the Buddhist priests declared that the Japanese kami 
were Buddhas or Boddhisattwas, and the new faith was 
reconciled to the old. Buddhism thus became the pre- 
dominant religion of the Japanese down to modern times. 
The rapid assimilation of Buddhism, which was the 
religion of all the civilized world known to the Japanese 
(Korea, hoary China, and far-away India), was quite 
analogous to the way in which in recent time Japan has 
assimilated Western civilization and science because 
they were the possessions of the civilized world. Japa- 
nese Buddhism, brought from China by way of Korea, 
was of the Mahayana type, called in Japanese Daijo. 
This form of Buddhism established the belief that 
Gautama passed through five periods of existence, in 
the last of which he became identical with Absolute 
Being. It taught the doctrine of transmigration of the 
soul, of heaven and hell, and of salvation by prayer.^ 
Its advent introduced the Japanese to a new world of 
ideas. Fostered by some of the emperors in the eighth 
century, it rapidly attained a position of power. ''It 

' Knox, The Development of Religion in Japan, pp. 70 ff. 
» F. Brinkley, A History of the Japanese People, pp. 131-35. 
3 See above, pp. 174 f. and 218. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 233 

touched the very fountains of thought and set a-flowing 
new currents of ideas. It sobered the light-hearted 
nature worshipers. It furnished a deeper interpreta- 
tion of ancestor worship. It created new notions of 
nature and Hfe. It invented a new vocabulary. It 
gave rise to new arts, trades, and crafts. It initiated a 
new policy of government. It changed the whole social 
structure. Indeed there was nothing that was not 
impregnated with the doctrines of Gautama." This is 
the tribute of Professor Nitobe, but the doctrines of 
Mahayana, which came to Japan, are as different from 
the doctrines of Gautama as the philosophy of Hegel is 
from the teachings of Jesus. 

In the early part of the ninth century Japanese 
Buddhism began to split into sects. The earhest of 
these sects, the Tendai, or "Heavenly Command,"' was 
founded by Saicho (also called Dengyo), a Buddhist 
saint who visited China and there gained the inspira- 
tion which led to the founding of the sect. The metaphys- 
ics of this sect are thought by some to be more prof oimd 
than those of any other section of Mahayana Buddhism. 
An attempt is made to combine the two opposites of 
being and non-being. In this there may be discerned 
the influence of Chinese Taoism as interpreted by 
Kwang-tze. The aim of the sect is to lead its members 
to the attainment of perfect Buddhahood through the 
four stages of moral precept, meditation, secrecy, and 
completion. The goal is completion. In the pursuit 
of this end the leaders of the sect adapt their teachings 
to the capacity of individuals, after the manner of 
Ignatius Loyola, and have in consequence been called 

» So Nitobe, The Japanese People^ p. 141. 



234 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the Jesuits of Buddhism. One of the aims of the sect 
is to search out and reverence the Buddha in all his 
manifestations, and it has found such manifestations 
in Vedic gods, Hindu idols, and in Shinto kami. It 
thus came about that all Shinto was annexed by the 
Tendai. Its priests have intermarried with Shinto 
families in order to secure by heredity control of Shinto 
shrines/ The all-inclusive aim of the sect has resulted 
in its disintegration into several subsects. 

Another sect, the Shingon, or "True Word," also 
dates from the ninth century. Its founder, Kukai 
(canonized as Kobo Daishi), also studied in China. 
According to this system the center of aU things is Dai 
Nichi, 

identified by the common people with the sun, and around him 
are four Buddhas of contemplation representing the highest 
abstractions, and around these group after group of significant 
genera and species, until the individual is reached. This is the 
"diamond" world, unchanging and real, while the phenomenal 
world is also grouped about Dai Nichi, who is represented, not 
now as the sun surrounded by four planets, but as the center of the 
lotus with eight Buddhas about him as petals. Thus he, or better 
it, is the center of all things, real and phenomenal, and correspond- 
ingly there are two ways of salvation, by meditation and knowl- 
edge, and by a righteous life. The end of the "Way" is reached 
when perfect knowledge is attained and the individual is absorbed 
in the Infinite. In popular language we become Buddha. Thus 
was the historic Buddha himself absorbed, and his individuality 
disappeared, so has his distinctive teaching and glory, for he 
remains in this system only as one of four Buddhas of contem- 
plation, a symbol of abstraction, one of the last ideas which remain 
before all is swallowed up in the Absolute.' 

» Compare Griffis, The Religions of Japan, pp. 244 ff. 
» Knox, The Development of Religion in Japan, pp. 99 f. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 235 

The absorption of Shinto by the Shingon sect was 
even more easy and rapid than by the Tendai sect. 
Shinto did not altogether lose its identity, however, for 
at birth a child is taken to a Shinto temple for conse- 
cration and blessing, though at death the funeral is 
usually conducted by a Buddhist priest. 

The Jodo, or ^'Pure Land" sect, founded in 1196 a.d. 
by Genku, afterward called Honen Shonin, is an offshoot 
of the Tendai sect. Genkti, impressed by the e\dl of the 
world and the impossibility of doing right in it, and 
influenced by descriptions of the paradise of the West 
that had just reached Japan, held that it is not possible 
to reach Buddhaship here; one must iSxst attain the 
"Pure Land." That land may be attained in another 
world, if one has faith in Amida, or Buddha the Savior. 
Blind faith in Amida, combined with ceaseless repetition 
of pious formulae (for faith must find expression in 
ritual), will lead to birth in Amida's Paradise after 
death. No change of heart is necessary here; but 
there one may have a chance at Buddhahood. The doc- 
trine offered a cheap ticket to paradise and became 
very popular. 

The Jodo Shin-shu, or "True Sect of Jodo," often 
called simply Shin-shu, was established in 1224 a.d. 
through the efforts of Shinran, a pupil of Genkti. This 
sect lays emphasis on faith alone. If faith saves, neither 
ritual nor works avail. One needs no knowledge of 
metaphysics, one need perform no acts of reHgious devo- 
tion, there is no need to keep a multitude of command- 
ments, one need not leave home, renounce matrimony, 
or Hve by rule. Faith will accomplish all, if one wor- 
ships Amida only, and prays for nothing that does not 



236 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

concern salvation. Whereas Jodo teaches that Amida 
will come only at death, Shin-shu holds that Amida 
dwells in the heart by faith now. In this teaching it 
has been said that Buddhism completed a cycle, deny- 
ing everything that its founder affirmed, and affirming 
everything that he denied.^ 

A different line of development is represented by the 
Zen sect, founded about 1187 by Eisai, a monk who in 
1 168 had been in China to study. Zen is a Japanese 
translation of the Sanskrit Dhyana, "contemplation." 
Knowledge, Eisai held, can be transmitted without 
words. It may be reached only by contemplation. 
The essential thing is to find the Buddha in one's own 
heart. In order to find it, one must grasp the "fact of 
utter and entire void." The motto was in theory, 

Oh to be nothing! nothing!' 

About 1223 two other teachers, after a visit to China, 
introduced into the Zen teaching the elements of scholar- 
ship and research. These together with contemplation 
were the way to the goal. Strange to say, this mystical 
sect became very popular with the samurai^ or Japanese 
warriors. Its teachings stripped all things of their qual- 
ities to such a degree that death was robbed of its 
terrors, while its ritual of mere contemplation did not 
interfere with the activities of a soldier. 

The Nichiren sect, named after its founder, Nichiren, 
who was born in 1222 a.d., embodies a violent reaction 
from the Jodo and Shin-shu sects. It alone of the Bud- 
dhist sects in Japan is intolerant. "Japan for the 

* Knox, The Development of Rellgioti in Japan, p. 133. 
' Ibid., p. 100. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 237 

Japanese " might well have been the motto of its foimder. 
He had been a student of the Saddharma-Pundartka, or 
the "Lotus of the True Law/* from which he selected 
various phrases, which were beHeved to constitute a 
formula of salvation. He became a kind of Buddhist 
evangehst, preaching this type of salvation to the com- 
mon people. The true Buddha is the source of all 
existence; he is the real moon in the sky; all other 
states of being are Hke the moon reflected in the water. 
The kami and all Japanese spirits are Buddhas. Indeed, 
beasts, birds, and snakes are honored by this sect. 
Nichiren denounced all other sects, characterizing the 
Zen as a demon and the Shingon as national ruin.' 
After a stormy career he ended his life in peace, but 
bequeathed his contentious spirit to his sect. The sect 
has made its founder an object of worship, embeUishing 
his life with many marvels; it worships his writings, 
and has through all its history been intolerant and 
violent. 

179. Confucianism became known in Japan as early 
as Buddhism if not earlier, and has had a profound 
influence upon Japanese life. Japan has always been 
ready to respond to the stimulus of a higher civilization 
when once that stimulus has been felt, and such stimu- 
lus came to it from China in the sixth century of our 
era. To the rude Japanese of that time China' was a 
land of hoary antiquity and of immemorial culture. 
The civilization of China naturally became a pattern 
to the Japanese. In China the whole organization of 
the state and family was pervaded by Confucian ideals. 
Though Confucius had sought only to regulate these, 

^ F. Brinkley, History of the Japanese People^ p. 372. 



238 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

and to stimulate reverence for them, a stable govern- 
ment presided over by a Son of Heaven and a well- 
organized family in which children reverenced parents, 
obeyed them, and sacrificed themselves for them, were 
fundamental to his system of thought. Such a state 
and family China presented to the Japanese as a model. 

Under the influence of this ideal, Japan, as has already 
been pointed out, developed Shinto, to strengthen her 
ruling dynasty and to give the emperor in a purely 
Japanese system a place as exalted as that held by the 
Chinese emperor. The same influence led to a better 
organization of the Japanese family and the inculcation 
of filial piety. In Japan, however, this piety took on a 
different aspect and tone from that in China. China 
was on the whole a peaceful land; Japan was disturbed 
by continual strife. Filial piety in Japan assumed a 
martial coloring thoroughly in keeping with the Japanese 
environment and character. 

In China the emperor ruled by virtue, and if he were 
not virtuous, Confucianism recognized the right ot 
rebelHon. In Japan he ruled by conquest, and no right 
of rebellion was recognized. The ethics of Confucius 
as understood in Japan were for a ruling race; for the 
conmion man there was left nothing but obedience. 
When the necessity of virtue in the ruler was no longer 
recognized, there was no restraint upon him, and 
tyranny naturally resulted. In the feudal age this 
Japanese interpretation of Confucianism as applied by 
the samurai, or warrior class, produced the ethical sys- 
tem of Bushido, or "miHtary-knight ways," so attract- 
ively described by Professor Nitobe.' The ethics of 

* I. Nitobe, Bushido, the Soul of Japan (Philadelphia, 1900). 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 239 

Bushido, while they inculcate marvelous self-control, 
loyalty, chivalry, gentleness, and honor to those within 
one's circle, leave the warrior free to practice any deceit 
or fraud for the sake of overcoming an enemy.' There 
is in the conduct expected of the soldier a defect similar 
to the defect in that prescribed by Japanese Confucian- 
ism for an emperor. 

In Chinese filial piety the family is the institution 
which demands the loyalty of children. The ideal Con- 
fucian son is one who labors and sacrifices to support 
needy parents. This idea was adopted in Japan, but 
was given a wider scope. It was made to apply to the 
state as well as to a family. It inculcated for all rela- 
tionships of Hfe the self-sacrifice of an inferior to a 
superior. This was carried to such lengths in the 
family that a daughter was commended for selling her- 
self to a life of shame for the sake of supplying the wants 
of a needy father. Boys and men were in a similar way 
expected to sacrifice themselves for a superior and for 
the state. To endure the hardships incident to war — 
hunger, cold, fatigue — and to meet death without fear 
became the manly virtues that were most commended. 
In time loyalty to one's superior was thought to involve 
the refusal to Hve after that superior's death, hence the 
form of suicide known as hara-kiri, or disembowelment, 
was often commended. The emphasis led frequently to 
suicide for trivial causes. In such ways as these the 
fruits of Confucianism in Japan were very different 
from its fruits in China. In Japan it applied only to 
the upper classes; the peasantry was left with an ethical 
code almost as vague as in primitive times. 

' Knox, The Development oj Religion in Japan, pp. 151 ff. 



240 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

There lived in China in 1 130-1200 a.d. an exceed- 
ingly influential commentator on Confucius named Chu 
Hsi. In interpreting Confucius, Chu Hsi aimed at con- 
sistency, but he also taught that Confucius held man to 
be superior to spirits and demons. Chu Hsi accord- 
ingly denied that Shang-ti was a supreme ruler whom 
men must particularly honor. About 1604 his teach- 
ings were introduced into Japan and became the orthodox 
method of interpreting Confucius there. Probably the 
majority of educated Japanese at the present time are 
Confucianists of this t3rpe. Rehgion, whether of the 
primitive sort or of the Buddhistic variety, is regarded 
as superstition. The worship which a Confucianist per- 
forms before the tablet of an ancestor or a sage signifies 
little more than our lifting of the hat at the tomb of a 
hero or saint. For the rest Confucianist worship is 
adoration of the universe and the expression of gratitude 
to it. 

Such has been the religious history of Japan. Bud- 
dhism was disestablished in 1872; Christianity, though 
now a power in the empire, has not yet been recognized 
by law as on an equality with the older systems. In 
conclusion, it may be observed that Japan has made no 
really great contribution to the world's religion. Her 
own religion was of the most rudimentary character, 
and the influence of Confucianism upon it, although it 
gave coherence and a system of ethics, nevertheless 
scarcely made the Japanese conceptions a religion. 
Buddhism alone has been creative, but its creative 
impulses have all been derived from China. The 
readiness with which Buddhism identified its Boddhis- 
attwas with the Japanese kami led it to absorb the prim- 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 241 

itive Japanese superstitions. While Buddhism greatly 
stimulated Japanese thought, and was b}^ far the most 
inspiring of the religions of ancient Japan, its sects either 
thought too much of the Hfe to come, or were too anxious 
to be "nothing, nothing," to raise the present life to its 
highest potency. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 175: A. Asakawa, "Japan," in H. C. Lodge's History of 
the Nations (Philadelphia, 1906) ; or F. Brinkley, A History of 
the Japanese People (London, 19 15). 

On sees. 176-79: G. W. Knox, The Development of Religion in 
Japan (New York, 1907). 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions, I, chaps, vi, vii. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE RELIGION OF GREECE 

lo, Kuros^ most Great, I give thee hail, Kronian, Lord of all 
that is wet and gleaming, thou art come at the head of thy 
Daimones. To Dikte for the year, Oh, march, and rejoice in the 

dance and song For here the shielded Niirturers took 

thee, a child immortal, from Rhea, and with noise of beating feet 
hid thee av/ay. — Fragment of a hymn of the Kouretes.' 

They celebrate aegis-bearing Zeus, and majestic Hera, the 
Argive who treads proudly in golden sandals; and gleaming-eyed 
Athene, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus ; Phoebus Apollo ; Artemis, 
arrow-queen; and earth-encompassing, earth-shaking Poseidon; 
august Themis; Aphrodite who shoots Hvely glances; and Hebe 
of the golden crown; and fair Dione; Eos^ and the great Helios,^ 
and the resplendent Selene ;s Latona, and lapetos, and wily 
Kronos; Ge,^ mighty Okeanos, and dark Nux.7 — Hesiod Theogony. 

O Zeus, most glorious, greatest, shrouded in dark clouds, 
dwelling in the sky. — Iliad ii. 412. 

The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, 
Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all. 

— ^Aeschylus' 

In God is no xmrighteousness at all — ^he is altogether righteous; 
and there is nothing more Hke him than he is of us, who is most 
righteous. — ^Plato Theaetetus 176.' 

* An epithet of Zeus. 

' From Miss J. E. Harrison, Themis (Cambridge, 191 2), p. 7. 
3 Aurora. 

" The Sun. ^ The Earth. 

5 The Moon. ' Night. 

8 From E. H. Plumtre, The Tragedies of Aeschylus (New York), 
p. 343- 

» From B. Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato (New York, 1887), III, 378. 

243 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 243 

180. Greece and her people. — ^As compared with 
great India, vast China, or even vv^ith insular Japan, 
Greece is insignificant in size. It is but a petty pen- 
insula. "Its plains are deep narrow basins between 
high ridges and peaks.'' In place of rivers it has only 
rushing torrents incapable of floating a ship. Its soil is 
comparatively sterile, though its reddish color combined 
with the variety of hills and dales lends it a dehghtful 
charm. This is increased by the indentations of innu- 
merable bays and inlets, which add the incomparable blue 
of Aegean water to the beauty of the landscapes. "No 
spot of the land is more than forty miles from the sea." 

Long before the Indo-European Greeks came to this 
land it had been affected by the Aegean civiKzation. 
This civilization has been disclosed to us most com- 
pletely in Crete, where excavations have revealed an 
outline of its history reaching back farther than 3000 B.C. 
Beginning there in the Stone Age, this civilization slowly 
evolved in a v/ay as original as that of Babylonia, Egypt, 
or China. Scholars call the race that produced this 
civiKzation Minoan, from the myth of Minos of Crete. 
The early Minoan period of this civilization was con- 
temporary with the Old Kingdom of Egypt; the Middle 
Minoan period, when the civilization reached its height, 
coincided with the time of Egypt's Middle Kingdom, 
2000-1800 B.C.; while the Late Minoan period, con- 
temporary with the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Egyptian 
dynasties (1600-1200 B.C.), though in parts a period of 
splendor, was on the whole a period of decline.' The 
Cyclades Islands, parts of Laconia, ArgoHs, Attica, 

* See C. H. and H. Hawes, Crete the Forerunner of Greece (New York, 
1909). 



244 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Boeotia, and Thessaly, as well as parts of Caria and the 
Troad in Asia, shared this civilization. Greece was 
thus a highly civilized land long before the coming of the 
Greeks. 

At some time before the end of the second millen- 
nium B.C. the Indo-European Greeks began to enter the 
land from the north. They came in successive waves, 
lonians, Achaeans, Dorians. They appear to have 
reached some degree of civilization before they separated 
from the Aryan branches of their race, the Persians and 
Hindus, for they worshiped some of the same deities as 
their eastern kinsfolk. On their way to Greece they 
had advanced farther in civilization, since they passed 
through the valley of the Danube and came under the 
influence of the Bronze Age civilization there.' When 
they reached Greece, however, they were far more 
backward than the men of the Mediterranean race 
whom they overcame, and it took time for the new race 
to absorb and transform the culture that they found. 
This period of absorption and transformation is reflected 
in the literature from the Homeric poems to the Pelopon- 
nesian War. 

Two strains of ancestry are accordingly discernible 
in Greek religion, that of the Aegean civilization which 
had established itself at Mycenae, Athens, and elsewhere, 
and that brought by the Greek tribes. Here and there 
foreign influences, especially Semitic, may have been 
felt. 

i8i. Minoan religion cannot be fully studied until 
the Cretan writing is deciphered. It is evident, how- 
ever, from the artistic remains that the chief figure in 

» See D. G. Hogarth, Ionia and the East (Oxford, 1909), pp. 33-41. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 245 

the cult of the island was a goddess. She is represented 
in many ways, from NeoHthic nude figures in the form of 
an excessively fat woman (many primitive races have 
regarded obesity as an element of feminine beauty) to 
the goddess with a flounced skirt, tight-fitting waist, 
and bare breast, of the Late Minoan period, who holds 
serpents in her hands. The serpents apparently typify 
her connection with the earth. Doves and lions were 
often associated with her. She was, then, goddess of 
the air and of wild animals. The bull was sacred to her. 
He was most often offered in sacrifice, his horns adorned 
her altars and temples, and ritual vessels were made in 
his form. The goddess was served by priestesses, and 
worshiped at times in wild dances.' As in other countries 
that worshiped goddesses, she was thought to have a 
son. Later Greek myths traced the birth of Zeus to the 
Diktean cave in Crete, or to Mount Ida, where Rhea, 
his mother, secretly brought him forth.^ The myth is 
reflected in the hymn quoted at the beginning of this 
chapter. The son was thus identified in later time with 
the Greek Zeus. Cyprus shared in the Aegean civiHza- 
tion, but Semitic colonies were also established there, 
and the Aegean goddess was blended with the Semitic. 
When Minoan civilization was dominant in Greece in 
the Mycenaean age, the cult of the goddess was firmly 
estabhshed in many parts of the land. She became 
Rhea, mother of Zeus, Poseidon, and other deities. She 
became Hera, goddess of Argos, Athena in Attica, and 
Artemis in Attica and Arcadia. At Corinth, where 
formative influences may have come from C3rprus, she 

^ See Hawes, op. cit., pp. 135 ff. 

' See Strabo x, 468, 475; Miss Harrison, Themis, p. 54, n. 5. 



246 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

became Aphrodite.' The goddess, as among other 
primitive peoples, was apparently but the chief of an 
indefinite host of spirits that were feared. There is 
much evidence that in every part of the land there were 
many spirits, some of whom survived into the later 
religion. Throughout the whole Aegean area the pillar 
was sacred to this goddess* or to the male divinity asso- 
ciated with her. The deities were deities of fertility 
and the pillar had a phallic significance. As among the 
Semites, Hamites, and the early Japanese, the necessity 
of replenishing the food supply and the tribe led them to 
regard the power of reproduction as the divinest of 
qualities. 

182. Greek gods. — The Greeks were monogamous 
and reckoned descent through the father. The one 
primitive Indo-European god whom the Greeks brought 
with them was Zeus, called "Zeus pater," etymologically 
identical with "Dyaush pi tar" of the Vedas.^ As with 
the Hindus, he was the god of the overarching sky. 
They appear also to have brought with them Apollo, 
the god who guided the wanderer through the trackless 
wild, perhaps originally a wolf-god, but later identified 
with the sun, who guides the wanderer on his way. 
Like their Aryan brethren of India, the Greeks worshiped 
HeHos, or the sun, Eos, or the dawn, and Ge, the earth. 
We cannot be sure that the worship of these gods goes 
back to primitive Indo-European days, for the names 

» So Farnell in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VII, 
396; Higher Aspects of the Greek Religion (New York, 191 2), pp. 8 ff. 

» So Gilbert Murray, Four Stages of Greek Religion (New York, 19 12), 
pp. 74 ff. 

J See above, p. 146. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 247 

by which the Greeks called them are not connected with 
the names given them in India. To these the Greeks 
added the worship of night and the ocean. The last- 
mentioned was added to the pantheon after the Greeks* 
entrance into a land bordering on a sea; possibly some 
of the others were developed in Greece. 

183. The pantheon was formed by the fusion of 
deities from the Mediterranean race of the Aegean 
civilization and those of the Greek invaders. As the 
Greeks came southward in their victorious invasion, 
some of them settled in Thessaly. There Zeus was 
worshiped along with his female coxmterpart, Dione,* 
but Dione was forgotten by those who conquered Argos 
and Zeus was married to Hera. Thus the pre-Hellenic 
reHgion blended with the Hellenic. At Athens there 
was also a fusion, though here Zeus did not assume so 
important a role. Athena was, however, made his 
daughter, perhaps displacing Eos. Artemis and Aphro- 
dite were simply taken over by the Greeks. Artemis 
assumed different characters in different places. At 
Ephesus she was to the end the goddess of productivity. 
In some places the male god of the pre-Hellenes was 
absorbed by Apollo instead of by Zeus.* In time the 
pantheon was increased by the addition of other spirits, 
and by the personification of pure abstractions, such as 
Themis. One of the spirits that developed later into 
a god was that of the phallic post called a Herm. 
This post was placed above the graves of the dead as 
the s}Tiibol of the renewal of life. Its spirit came to be 
regarded as the means of communicating with the 
departed, hence in time this group of spirits or Hermes 

^ See Gilbert Murray, op. cit., p. 75. ' Ibid p. 69. 



248 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

became the messenger god. Hermes was, however, 
represented by a post far into the artistic period.' 

Zeus, who displaced or absorbed the pre-Hellenic 
gods, was said to have his abode on Olympus. There is 
an Olympus in Mysia, another in Thessaly, and still a 
third in Elis. Indeed, there are said to be more than 
twenty of them.^ The Zeus of a place was supposed to 
inhabit the mountain that was nearest; they were only 
gradually merged. The gods of this time were wor- 
shiped with bloody sacrifices and such similar cere- 
monies as are found among early peoples. 

184. The early poets. — (i) Homer: The poems that 
pass under the name of Homer were not all written by 
one hand or at one time. They were composed from 
the tenth to the seventh centuries, the oldest parts of 
the Iliad going back to nearly 1000 B.C. They represent 
a time in the development of the Ionian Greeks when 
they had come to regard themselves as of a higher 
degree of civilization than the surrounding barbarians. 
In the epics the gods are humanized; they are more 
personal and approachable. They are pictured as 
Hellenic aristocrats; they do not work; they only 
fight and indulge in amours. There is among them but 
one workman, Hephaestos, the metal-worker, perhaps 
of Aegean rather than Indo-European origin.^ He is 
lame and is the sport of gods and poets. Just as the 
aristocratic heroes of Homeric story must have their 
weapons sharpened, but looked down on the non- 
fighting smith, so did their gods. Most of the gods 

» See Gilbert Murray, op. cit., pp. 745.; Miss Harrison, Themis, ^.^6$. 

» Ibid., pp. 64 fif, 

3 Farnell, Higher Aspects of the Greek Religion, p. 14- 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 249 

loved, hated, quarreled, intrigued, and fought, just as 
did their princely worshipers. Nevertheless, the artistic 
instinct banished from the poems much that was 
horrible in the earlier ceremonies and conceptions. 

(2) Hesiod, a Boeotian farmer, who wrote about 
750 B.C., was a very different person from the poets who 
sang at the courts of Asiatic princes. He was less 
gifted as an artist and his interests were those of the 
soil. He endeavored to arrange the Homeric gods into 
a pantheon. The effort took the form of a poetic 
genealogy, the Theogony. It is really an account of the 
origin of the world, a cosmogony, as well as an account 
of the origin of the pantheon. In it the past is idealized. 
The world is represented as growing steadily worse. 
The Gold Age was followed by the Silver Age, that by 
the Bronze Age. The present is the Iron Age, and 
deterioration is still in progress. What was noble in 
the past was glorified and its harsher features forgotten. 

Hesiod's account of the origin of the universe begins 
with the emergence of Chaos. Earth next came into 
being, in the recesses of which was Tartarus. Then 
came Love. From Chaos were born Erebos and Night; 
from Night, Aether and Day; from Earth, the starry 
Heaven. From Earth and Heaven were bom Okeanos, 
Thea, Rhea, Themis, and other goddesses. 

In Hesiod' s Works and Days the rules and taboos 
relating to agriculture are collected. It thus preserves 
many of the earlier customs and superstitions of the 
people. As the Iliad mirrors the religion of the aristo- 
cratic warrior, the Works and Days mirrors that of the 
peasant farmer.* 

* See Gilbert Murray, op. cit., p. 85. 



250 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

185. Religion in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. 

— (i) Conditions: These centuries constitute a period of 
commercial expansion. In the seventh century Greeks 
were welcomed in Egypt by the kings of the Twenty- 
sixth Dynasty. The dynasty established by Gyges in 
Lydia eventually brought under its sway all of Asia 
Minor west of the Halys, and opened the country to 
Greek ideas and Greek enterprise. The Greek states 
themselves began to estabhsh colonies in different parts 
of the Eastern Mediterranean, from the Black Sea and 
the Propontis to Cyrene in Lybia. They also swept 
westward and colonized Southern Italy and Sicily. 
This expansion created a fusion in religion and a new 
form of society. The colonies carried their home gods 
with them, but soon grafted on to the worship of these 
the local cults of their new homes. With the estabhsh- 
ment of the colonies there came into being an extensive 
commerce, which soon created a class of wealthy mer- 
chants. Older Greek society had been agricultural; 
the aristocracy were the owners of large country estates. 
Little by Httle the wealthy city merchant took the place 
in popular esteem made vacant by the dwindling 
importance of the possessors of unproductive acres. The 
peasantry flocked to the cities, many foreign slaves were 
brought in, and the older social fabric was transformed. 
(2) Dionysos: This transformation was accompanied 
by important religious changes. One of the most strik- 
ing of these was the introduction and naturalization of 
the cult of the Thracian god Dionysos. In Thrace this 
god was a god of general fertihty, not strikingly differ- 
ent from the deities of the old Aegean cult. He was 
worshiped at festivals with ecstatic orgies characteristic 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 251 

of such cults. In Greece he became the god of the vine, 
but carried with him the festivals and orgies of his native 
land. The transfer of his cult to Greece, combined 
with the changing social conditions of the period, led 
to the introduction of a more personal element into 
rehgion. Gods had before been the deities of clans or 
cities in whose favor all members of the clan or city 
shared. The potency of the god had up to this time 
been confined to the present life. The underworld was 
a cheerless abode, such as is pictured in the Odyssey ^ 
Book xi, where the departed dragged out a shadowy 
existence. The cult of Dionysos as introduced into 
Greece held out the hope of a personal salvation. 
Individuals were initiated into its mysteries. Benefits 
unloiown to others came to those so initiated, and those 
benefits extended to a happier life in the underworld. 
While a part of that world was peopled with terrifying 
monsters, there were in other parts delightful abodes for 
the initiated.^ 

(3) Demeter: Under the spur of the mysteries of 
Dionysos, those of Demeter at Eleusis developed into a 
similar cult. Demeter, though a Hellenic goddess, 
probably supplanted one that had her beginnings in 
Mycenaean times.^ In Homer she appears as an 
earth-goddess whose daughter, Proserpine, who repre- 
sents vegetation, was carried down to Hades. Deme- 
ter sought her daughter and brought her up again. At 
Eleusis she was the goddess of a minor tribe, but in 
competition with the cult of the foreign Dionysos her 

^See Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford, 1896-1909), 
V, chaps, iv-vii. 

» Cf. ihU., Ill, 31. 



252 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

mysteries developed apace. People from outside the 
tribe became initiates; salvation was promised them, 
and the cult became popular. The Elysian fields of 
this cult were portrayed in more refined terms than those 
of the cult of Dionysos, and the cult appears to have 
appealed to a different class. 

(4) Orpheus: Intermingled with these two cults 
were some that bore other names. The most important 
of these were the Orphic mysteries, which appear to 
have been in some way connected with those of Dionysos, 
but are found at Eleusis also. Orpheus was the half- 
mythical primitive poet who, by the power of his l3Te, 
had brought his wife Eurydice back from the under- 
world. Verses of var3dng degrees of excellence were 
attributed to Orpheus and became the scriptures of the 
Orphic sect. Orphism endeavored to satisfy the human 
longing for a supernatural good, a foretaste of which 
might be enjoyed now. Among the doctrines prominent 
in the system was that of the transmigration of the soul. 
These mystery-sects offered to everyone a personal sal- 
vation that accorded with every taste and temperament. 
The mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis were stately and 
restrained; those of Dionysos were boisterous and ec- 
static. In the fourth century the Orphists sent mission- 
aries about the country with drums and tambourines 
after the manner of the Salvation Army. They carried 
a donkey load of fawnskins, tame snakes, and other 
paraphernalia employed in the initiations.^ 

(5) Philosophy: The period which witnessed the rise 
of these personal religions witnessed also the rise of 

* The description of this given by Demosthenes in his De corona 259 
is very vivid. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 253 

philosophy. This began in Miletus, an Ionian city in 
Asia, where, in the sixth century, Thales, Anaximander, 
and Anaximenes sought, apart from religion, to explain 
the external world. They started speculations that 
lasted on through the fifth century, but which we may 
conveniently sum up here. They perceived the unity 
of the world, and each sought to find some one element 
that was original, the transformations of which would 
account for the phenomena of nature, for life and death. 
Thales beheved the original element to be water, 
Anaximenes, air. Pythagoras of Samos, probably in- 
fluenced by Babylonian mathematical lore, held that 
numerical relations explained all things. Other philoso- 
phers viewed the world from still different angles. 
Heraclitus of Ephesus held that all nature is in a state 
of flux; nothing is stable; the one permanent thing is 
change. Parmenides of Elea denied this view, holding 
that the one permanent thing is being. Empedocles 
held that there were four primal elements: earth, air, 
fire, and water. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae taught that 
there were coimtless substances, that these substances 
were in confusion till mind came and set them in order. 
Democritus of Abdera hit upon an atomic theory of the 
universe that is strikingly similar to the atomic theory 
of modern physics. The only one of these philosophers 
whose theory appears to border on religion was Xeno- 
phanes of Colophon. He held that God is one and not 
like mortals; all things are one, and nothing comes 
into being or perishes.^ The effect of these philo- 
sophical speculations was to undermine the faith of 

* For a fuller statement of their views see Wilmer Cave Wright's 
Short History of Greek Literature (New York, 1907), pp. 145-51. 



254 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the more thoughtful in the old gods and the old 
religion. 

i86. The religion of poets and philosophers. — 
Greece's great contribution to the religious thought of 
the world was made through the great poets and philoso- 
phers, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristoph- 
anes, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Aeschylus was born 
in 525 B.C., Pindar in 522, and Aristotle died in 322. The 
lives of these men accordingly extended across just two 
centuries. These writers were not religionists in any 
narrow sense. They were connected with no priesthood 
or religious order. The Hterature which they created 
was altogether of a secular character, but it was pervaded 
by conceptions that were so fundamentally religious 
that they have molded much of subsequent reUgious 
thinking in the Mediterranean basin, whether Greek, 
Jewish, Christian, or Mohammedan, and the religious 
thought of the rest of the world in so far as it has been 
subjected to Mediterranean influences. 

(i) Pindar, who lived for a time at Syracuse in 
Sicily, wrote forty-four odes which have survived. He 
was devoutly religious. The old gods appear on his 
pages as on the pages of the Iliad, but they are more 
civilized. When Pindar is compared with Homer, his 
gods appear as much more refined than those of the epic 
as Homer's were more refined than those of primitive 
Greece. The passions of the gods are obliterated, their 
rule of the world is portrayed as righteous and just, and 
there is a tendency to exalt Zeus to a point where he 
embodies the moral order of the world. 

(2) Li Aeschylus this tendency appears in still 
greater clearness. He says in a fragment quoted at tlie 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 255 

head of this chapter, the genuineness of which there is 
no reason to doubt: 

The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, 
Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all. 

If this language is more than the momentary utterance 
of poetic feeling, it implies that Zeus is above and apart 
from other gods, differing from them, not only in degree, 
but in kind. The same thought is expressed in various 
ways in his tragedies. It is not blind fate that brings 
retribution in the wake of crime, but Zeus working his 
supreme and just will. 

(3) Sophocles stood nearer than Aeschylus to the 
popular point of view. In his plays no one god over- 
shadows the rest of the pantheon. He is more inter- 
ested in portraying the possible benefits of suffering, 
and depicts in such instances as Oedipus and Antigone 
how character is purified in the crucible of life. 

(4) Euripides, 480-406 B.C., manifested a very differ- 
ent attitude in his plays. Aeschylus and Sophocles were 
aristocrats who were interested in maintaining the old 
religion and the old order; Euripides was a man of the 
people. He was a critic of the old religion — ^not the 
kind of critic that a consistent thinker would be, but a 
critic of artistic moods and poetic feeling. For fifty 
years he lived in Athens. He is said to have written 
ninety-two pla^^s, only eighteen or nineteen of which 
have survived. In these he assumes toward rehgion 
and the gods the various attitudes of a man who is, on 
the whole, skeptical and yet possesses an artistic feeling 
that is akin to religious emotion. The myths which 
attributed immorality to the gods repelled him, while 



256 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the conventions of his art compelled him to employ 
them. He took no pains to conceal the revolting 
aspects of these myths, though he took care so to portray 
them that they should prove unattractive to the crowd. 
Faithlessness, vengefulness, lust, and brutality were 
called by their right names when gods exhibited them. 
At times his characters express doubts as to the exist- 
ence of the gods, though this usually occurs under 
circumstances such that the dramatic situation demands 
it. At times it is hinted that Zeus may be mere law. 
These plays undoubtedly did much to undermine the 
popular faith in the gods. Just at the end ol his life 
Euripides spent two years in Macedonia, where he came 
in contact with the genuine Dionysian orgies. Those 
he had witnessed at Athens were but faint imitations. 
Under the spell of these he wrote his Bacchae. Some 
have found evidence in this that he who had been a 
skeptic all his life at last "found religion" and became 
a devotee of this cult. It is doubtful whether it is right 
to see in the play more than a complete artistic abandon 
to his theme. But even if his faith were awakened by 
the Dionysiac cult, he abated nothing of his lofty con- 
ceptions, for in this very play he exclaims: 

It fits not that in wrath gods be as men.^ 

(5) Aristophanes, who died in 385 B.C., was the 
antithesis of Euripides, whom he disUked personally. 
He was an aristocrat, devoted to the old order of things. 
Aristophanes was a comic poet, whose aim was to catch 
the popular ear and raise a laugh. One of the surest 
ways to do this is to denounce the tendencies of one's 

* Bacchae 1. 1348. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 257 

own time. After allowance is made for this, there 
nevertheless remains in Aristophanes a genuine dislike 
of the tendencies of the age both in philosophy and in 
religion. His influence was, therefore, regressive. 

(6) Socrates (469-399 B.C.) was a great critic of his 
age. His aim was to show men the shallowness of much 
of their pretended knowledge, to bring them to self- 
realization, to lead them to a philosophy of life that had 
been tested by experience. His method of doing this 
by drawing out the pupil with questions still bears the 
name Socratic. One should, Socrates thought, know 
himself, know whither he is aiming, and know the means 
that will bring him to his goal. Socrates believed he 
had a good spirit, a daimon he called it, that guided him. 
It told him when he was on the right track; it warned 
him when he was going wrong.^ Xenophon calls this 
daimon a god, but probably it was thus that Socrates 
personified conscience. 

Skeptic as Socrates was in practical matters, he 
nevertheless was a devout believer in the gods. Xeno- 
phon, his pupil, who knew him well, bears abundant 
testimony to this in the Memorabilia. Socrates devoutly 
offered sacrifices to the gods according to his means; he 
faithfully followed every intimation that he believed to 
be of the divine will; he "undervalued everything 
human, in comparison with counsel from the gods."^ 
Xenophon reports a conversation that he heard between 
Socrates and Aristodemus in which Socrates argued for 
the reaHty of the gods, though they are unseen, from 
the reaUty of the mind in the body, which, though 

* See the Memorabilia i. i. 4. 
' Ibid, i. 3. 4. 



258 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

unseen, directs it/ He also employed an argument 
from design, based upon the wise adaptation of means 
to ends in the structure, of the bodies of animals and 
men. Reverent in religion, Socrates expended his 
dialectic, not in an attempt to explain the universe and 
nature, but in the endeavor to ascertain the best way of 
living. His philosophy was pragmatic rather than 
speculative. He believed that the gods knew all things, 
what was meditated in silence as well as what was done,^ 
that the divine nature was perfection, and that to be 
nearest to the divine nature was to be nearest to per- 
fection.^ He lived a simple life, always helpful to the 
common people, and, when imjustly condemned to 
death, died bravely and cheerfully. Whether death 
was a dreamless sleep or an opportunity for converse 
with the heroes and sages of the past, he declared he did 
not know, but in neither case could it be an evil. 

(7) Plato, bom in 427 B.C., became a pupil of Socrates 
at the age of twenty, and enjoyed his instruction for 
eight years before Socrates was put to death. Plato 
lived until 327 B.C. His activity as an author extended 
over fifty years, and as a teacher over more than forty. 
Although he had studied the works of all preceding 
philosophers, his system was in reality a development 
of the basic principles of that of Socrates. "Socrates 
had explained that only the knowledge of concepts 
guarantees a true knowledge. Plato goes further, and 
maintains that it is only by reflection in concepts, in the 
forms of things, or 'ideas' that true and original Being 
can be attained.'^ "From this point of view the reality 
of ideas becomes the necessary condition of the possi- 

^ Memorabilia i. 4. 'Ihid.i. i. 19. ^Ibid.i. 6. 10. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 259 

bility of scientific thought. The same result follows 
from the contemplation of Being as such."' All things 
outward are subject to ceaseless change; only ideas are 
permanent. Plato was thus led to hold that ideas only 
are eternal. Sensuous existences have originated from 
attempts, only partially successful, to express an eternal 
idea. This lack of success is due to the nature of the 
second principle, matter, which enters into the structure 
of all sensuous things. This second principle Plato 
regarded as "unHmited, ever-changing, non-existent, and 
unknowable."^ The soul, in Plato's view, stands mid- 
way between ideas and the corporeal world and unites 
both. "It is incorporeal and ever the same, like ideas, 
but spread abroad throughout the world, and moving it 
by its own original motion."^ Plato "recognizes the 
true cause of the world in reason, in ideas, and the deity 
.... but the distinction of the creator from the ideas 
(or more exactly from the highest of the ideas)" is not 
very clear. 

In Plato's conception "deity coincides with the idea 
of good, the behef in providence with the conviction 
that the world is the work of reason and the copy of the 
idea, while divine worship is one with virtue and knowl- 
edge."'* He w^as a philosophical monotheist, and makes 
it clear that he regards the gods of mythology as creatures 
of the imagination. 

In Plato's view the soul belongs to "the world above 
the senses, and in that only can find its true and lasting 

' E. Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy (New York, 
1890), p. 140. 

' Zeller, op. cit., p. 146. 

3 Ibid., p. 149. 4 Ibid., p. 161. 



26o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

existence; the possession of good or happiness which 
forms the final goal of human effort can only be obtained 
by elevation into that higher world. The body, on the 
other hand, and sensual life, is the grave and prison of 
the soul."' The mission of man is therefore to escape 
from this lower life into the higher world. This is 
accomplished "by the habit of the soul gathering and 
collecting herself into herself, out of all the courses of 
the body; the dwelling in her own place alone, as in 
another Hfe, so also in this, as far as she can; the release 
of the soul from the chains of the body."^ Plato did 
not, however, recommend the avoidance of the sensuous 
world as some oriental religions did; rather, sensuous 
phenomena were to be employed as a means of attaining 
to an intuition of the idea. 

Plato's conception of the soul led him to adopt the 
Orphic doctrine of transmigration. As the idea is 
anterior to a soul, and a soul to a body, belief in the pre- 
existence of souls naturally followed. His conception 
of the soul gave a new meaning to Hfe after death; a 
real doctrine of immortaHty was now possible. Plato also 
adopted the Orphic conception of hell, the terrors o! the 
punishments in which were greatly intensified by his 
doctrine of immortality. 

(8) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a pupil of Plato, but 
when he attained to intellectual independence he differed 
from his master at many points. He found reality, not 
in the realm of ideas, but in things. He recognized that 
forms change, that individuals come into being and 
perish, but he noted that the genera or species remain. 
These correspond to the forms which make up our 

* Zeller, op. cit., p. 155. » Plato, Phaedo 67 ff. 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 261 

concepts. Individuals are to be referred to these con- 
cepts and are derived from them. Far more than Plato 
he confined his philosophy to natural science. The 
heavenly bodies and their movements led Aristotle to 
his conception of the world. The earth, he held, is in 
the center of a number of concentric spheres which 
revolve around it. These are moved by a Being who is 
apart and above them — a Being who is not material — • 
who is Mind. The material world he distinguished from 
this Being even more sharply than Plato. Man is a 
creature intermediate between the material world and the 
eternal Mind, or God. Like several of his predecessors, 
he rejected the old mythology. He endeavored to put 
ethics on a scientific basis, and found the chief end of 
man in well-being. This well-being he foimd in the 
proper exercise of the specifically human faculties and 
the attainment of those virtues which constitute the 
distinctive human excellencies. He has nothing to say 
of the Hfe after death. 

These great Greek philosophers have profoundly 
influenced all subsequent philosophy and rehgion in the 
western world. 

187. Later philosophical development took first the 
form of a reaction against the duaHsm of Plato and 
Aristotle. Passing by the Peripatetic school, of the 
doctrines of which Uttle is known, this reaction found 
expression in the Stoic philosophy. 

(i) The Stoic school was foimded by Zeno of Citium 
in Cyprus, who died about 270 B.C. at the age of seventy- 
two. The Stoics elaborated the idea set forth by Hera- 
cHtus of Ephesus, that the world is penetrated by the 
divine lo^os or reason. In Stoic hands this became a 



262 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

doctrine of the immanence of God. God was not a being 
outside the framework of the universe and apart from 
it, but One who interpenetrates its every part. The aim 
of the Stoics was purely ethical; their speculations 
accordingly revolved around the problems of Hfe. Their 
great contention was that man should Uve according to 
nature. Nature was interfused with God; to live in 
accordance with nature was to live in accord with God. 
As God is the single causal force of the universe, one 
cause runs through all things and determines all. This 
view constituted the Stoic doctrine of fate. It was not 
a mechanical fate, but a fate directed by intelligence for 
wisest ends. The Stoics accounted for the presence of 
evil in a world pervaded by God on the theory that good 
cannot be perceived or even exist apart from its opposite. 
The Stoics held the soul to have a corporeal nature like 
the body, but its material is a part of the divine fire 
which descended into the bodies of men when they first 
arose out of the ether. It is a particle of God. Man is 
moved by brute impulses, but it is the business of the 
soul to pass judgment upon these and to bring them into 
subjection to reason. Stoic virtue is a battle with 
passions. They are irrational and must be eradicated. 
It is the duty of men to attain apathy, or freedom from 
passions. The virtuous man's happiness consists in 
** freedom from disturbance, repose of spirit, and inward 
independence." 

The attitude of the Stoics toward the gods of 
mythology and the popular religion was one of tolerance. 
They were unwilling to deprive ordinary men of the 
ethical support afforded by reHgious beliefs, and it was 
possible to see in the gods different manifestations of 



THE RELIGION OF GREECE 263 

the one philosophic God. By means of allegorical 
interpretation the myths were rationaHzed, philosophi- 
cally interpreted, and the system justified. 

(2) Epicurus was a contemporary of Zeno. Epi- 
curean philosophy is at nearly every point the antithesis 
of the Stoic. Epicurus adopted the atomic theory of 
Democritus as to the composition of physical nature; 
in ethics he made the individual the aim of all action. 
In his view the only absolute good is the pleasure of the 
individual. He found pleasure, however, not in things 
low or base, but in virtue. It alone gives happiness. 
From this point of view a theory of society was worked 
out. The individual sought happiness in the society 
of others. Epicurus recognized the existence of gods, 
but their happiness required that they should not be 
burdened with the care of men. He also sought to 
relieve men from the oppression of fear of the gods. 

188. General results. — The philosophies at which 
we have glanced were the most important ones which 
occupied men's thoughts up to the time when the Kfe of 
Greece was merged into that of the Roman Empire. 
These philosophies attracted only the educated classes. 
Side by side with them the older beHefs survived. The 
conamon people had faith in the old gods, beHeved the 
old myths, offered the old sacrifices, and perpetuated 
the old mysteries. The philosophic ^ systems were too 
tolerant to disturb the old religion; they were too coldly 
philosophical to be among the masses real substitutes 
for it. There was never such a sifting of the old from 
the new as the historical misfortunes of the Hebrews 
wrought for that nation, so that the primitive and the 
lofty existed side by side till the end. In this respect 



264 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the religious history of Greece fmds a parallel in that 
of India. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 180: cf. J. H. Breasted, Ancient Times (New York, 

1916), pp. 221-405. 
On sec. 181: C. H. and H. Hawes, Crete the Forerunner of Greece 

(New York, 1909), pp. 135-143- 
On sees. 182, 183: Hesiod Theogony (in translation). 
On sec. 184: Gilbert Murray, Four Stages of Greek Religion 

(New York, 191 2), chap. ii. 
On sec. 185: Famell, "Greek Religion," § II, 9-1 1, in Hastings' 

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VI. 
On sec. 186: Farnell, ibid., § II, 12 — § III, 6; and E. Zeller, Greek 

Philosophy (New York, 1890), pp. 101-221. 
On sec. 187: Zeller, op. cit., pp. 228-73. 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore: History of Religions, I, chaps, xvii-xx. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE RELIGION OF ROME 

Since there is nothing better than reason and since this exists 
both in man and in God, man's first coramimion with God is one 
of reason. — Cicero De legihus i. 7. 22 fiE. 

189. The Roman people belonged to that part of 
the Indo-European race which entered Italy and is, for 
that reason, often called Italic. At the beginning Rome 
was only an insignificant village community of Latium, 
the land of the Latins. The Italic stock were not the 
first inhabitants of Italy; they were preceded by the 
Mediterranean race whose presence in the Mediterranean 
basin is of imknown antiquity. The Italic stock was 
apparently scattered through the hills and valleys of 
Central Italy by 1000 B.C. or earlier. These people lived 
in huts and protected themselves as best they could. 
The beginnings of Rome consisted of collections of such 
huts. The site was selected because its seven hills could 
each be surrounded by palisades and be defended. 
Archaeological discoveries in the Forum seem to show 
that the site was occupied as early as 1000 B.C. About 
800 B.C. that part of Italy now called Tuscany was 
iQvaded by a people from Asia, whom we call Etruscans. 
They were apparently kindred to the people of Lydia, 
for their art was similar to that of Lydia and they 
employed the same alphabet as the Lydians. The new- 
comers mingled with the Italic stock and formed the 
Etruscans of history. They were more civilized than 
the ItaUc population to the south of them. 

265 



266 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The city-state of Rome came into existence about 
750 B.C. During its early history it was one of the 
members of the Latin League, a number of kindred 
cities that were banded together. Representatives of 
these met yearly at Alba Longa. About 600 B.C. the 
Etruscans surged southward and conquered a good por- 
tion of Italy, submerging Rome also. An Etruscan line 
of kings occupied the Roman throne for about a century. 
Under these kings citizenship was made less exclusive 
and a strong mihtary organization was developed. 
After the expulsion of this foreign line, Rome was ruled 
by an aristocracy, which, through the pressure of the 
populace from beneath and the vicissitudes of various 
wars, was transformed gradually into a republic. Little 
by little Southern Italy was conquered. It had been 
colonized by Greeks. Their sovereignty Rome swept 
away, and the struggle with Carthage for control of 
the western Mediterranean began. The story of the 
Carthaginian wars, of Rome's extension of power, the 
establishment of her colonies throughout the Mediter- 
ranean region, the transformation of the republic into the 
empire, 31-27 B.C., and the history of that great empire 
to its fall in 476 a.d., are too well known to be recounted 
here. Throughout their history the Romans were noted 
for their practical efficiency rather than for philosophical 
or speculative gifts. 

190. The earliest religion of the Romans was of a 
simple, animistic nature. They were an agricultural 
folk to whom it was of prime importance to be on good 
terms with the spirits of the soil. Before their settle- 
ment on the land the clan, or gens, was the unit, but 
with the settlement in permanent abodes the family 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 267 

emerged. To maintain the family was, after that, the 
main desire; it was for this that the fields were tilled. 
The spirits that presided over the procreative power of 
the family, over its dwelling, and over its nourishment 
were thus added to the spirits of the land as the objects 
of the earhest worship. Thus each individual man was 
beheved to have a Genius and each individual woman a 
Juno, to whom each did homage. The Genius was the 
personified power of procreation; the Juno, of con- 
ception. The worship of these powers had for its 
motive the perpetuation of the family. Among many 
peoples the door or threshold has been regarded with 
reverence; its importance to the household as a means 
of entrance, exit, and defense is very great. Janus was 
the spirit of the door. The life of every household 
depends upon the hearth and centers about it; Vesta 
was the spirit of the hearth. The penus was the store- 
house of the family; the di penates were the spirits 
who guarded the stores. Similarly the spirits which 
presided over agriculture were venerated. There were 
the Lares, origuiaUy the spirits of the family farm;' 
Faunus, who gave increase to the cattle; Pales who 
made the flocks breed; Saturn who presided over the 
sowing of seed; Robigo, who prevented mildew; Consus 
the protector of harvests, and many others. The 
departed members of a family or clan became spirits 
and were known as Di Manes who dwelt in the under- 
world. Each spirit was at once the object over which it 
presided, and more than the object. Thus Vesta was 
the hearth, but much more than the hearth. 

^ See Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 
i9ii),pp. 77 ff. 



268 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

These spirits were apparently worshiped in festivals, 
though but little knowledge of the feasts has survived. 
One such was the Laralia, celebrated soon after the 
winter solstice, on a day set by the head of the family 
or the heads of families. All the family, including 
slaves, took part in it; it was free and joyous in char- 
acter. Each family had its own altar on its own land. 
Some of the festivals were accompanied with singing and 
revelry. Marriage was a religious festival, for which a 
cake made of far was offered to Jupiter, the spirit of the 
sky. It is thought that the bride and groom partook of 
the cake as a sacrament. 

Apart from the festivals the common daily Hfe was 
attended by religious ceremonies. On every family 
table there was a salt-cellar and a salt cake baked by the 
daughters of the family. After the first course of the 
midday meal, which was the principal course, in a 
solemn silence a part of the salt cake was thrown on the 
fire from a sacrificial plate. This was a sacrifice to 
Vesta. Other spirits were doubtless propitiated in 
appropriate ways, so that religion pervaded hfe. 

191. Religion of the city-state. — In course of time 
the exigencies of self-defense caused the agricultural 
communities to merge themselves into the city-state of 
Rome. Knowledge of the earliest religion of this state 
is obtained by studying the so-called calendar of Numa.^ 
This calendar indicated the days on which it was 
''religiously permissible to transact civil business" and 
the days when to do so would be sacrilegious. There 
is reason to beheve that the basis of this calendar ante- 
dates the coming of the Etruscans. The rehgious 

* See Fowler, Religious Experience of the Roman People^ chap. v. 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 269 

ceremonies prescribed for each month show what the 
occupations in that month were. These ceremonies 
were designed to secure the blessing of the gods upon 
the work of the month. April was the month of agri- 
cultural beginnings. At the Fordicidia on the fifteenth 
a pregnant cow with her imborn calf was sacrificed to 
the Earth to insure fertility. On the nineteenth 
occurred the Cerealia, or festival of Ceres, the goddess 
of fruits. On the twenty-first, the Parilia, or festival of 
Pales, the tutelary deity of shepherds and cattle. On 
the twenty- third, the first VinaHa, or wine feast; and 
on the twenty-fifth, the RobigaHa, or festival of the 
spirit that protects from mildew. The calendars of 
certain other months, when agricultural interests would 
naturally occupy the people, are in like manner agri- 
cultural. Thus there was a series of festivals in August 
that had to do with the harvest. Martial interests also 
occupied the attention of the state, for in March there 
were festivals for the consecration of implements of war 
before the beginning of the fighting season, and in 
October festivals for purification from the taint of 
bloodshed.' The agricultural feasts sought to maintain 
the Hfe of the state; the martial feasts, to protect it. 

In this period, as in the former, Hfe was hedged about 
with numerous taboos, and rehgion was supplemented 
by magical practices. 

192. Etruscan influence profoundly modified Roman 
religion. Tradition ascribed the occupation of Rome 
by the Etruscans to the sixth century before Christ, 
but their expulsion from the city may have occurred 
considerably later than the traditional date, 509 B.C. 

' Ibid.t pp. 96 f. 



270 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Until the Etruscan period Rome had no wall; such 
fortifications as there were had been erected on the 
hilltops. The Etruscans gave the city both a military 
and a religious wall. The latter consisted of a furrow 
plowed in a circle outside the walls of the city. The 
plow was drawn by a bull and a cow yoked together and 
the furrow was turned toward the center of the circle. 
Inside this circle, called the pomerium, no gods except 
those of the state could be brought. 

During the Etruscan period the Capitoline hiU was 
crowned with a temple in which Jupiter, Jimo, and 
Minerva were worshiped. These deities were essentially 
Italic rather than Etruscan. Jupiter had had a long 
history in Latium before he became supreme in Rome. 
Although he is the old Indo-European sky-god,' and 
was brought into Italy by the Italic immigrants from 
their primitive cradle-land, he did not hold the first 
place in the religious Hfe of the primitive Romans. 
Janus took precedence of him. Juno and Minerva 
were also Italic deities,^ each of whom had her separate 
cella in the temple on the Capitoline. The Etruscans 
worshiped them because they found them in the land 
into which they had come, and were compelled to 
propitiate them. As the Roman state developed, the 
figure of Jupiter far overtopped that of the goddesses 
and of all other deities. Success in war led the Etruscans 
at times to worship him as Jupiter Victor and to deify 
Victoria (Victory). 

Another goddess that came to Rome in the Etruscan 
period was Diana. Originally she was a wood-goddess 

* See above, p. 146. 

* Cf . Fowler. Religious Experience of the Roman People, p. 238. 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 271 

of Nemi who in time became the great goddess of Aricia, 
which was not far distant. Aricia afterward became 
powerful in the Latin League and Diana became the 
goddess of the League. The Etruscans accordingly 
erected a temple to her on the Aventine Hill and Diana 
came to Rome. 

From the earliest times the Romans had practiced 
augury, but from the Etruscans they learned to draw 
certain imaginary lines in the heavens and to observe 
the flight of birds in relation to these. The earthly 
counterpart of the quadrangle thus created in the 
heavens was called a templum and became the ritual 
inclosure of a temple. The Etruscans also secured 
oracles by consulting the livers of victims. This they 
had learned, probably in some indirect way, from the 
Babylonians. This method of divination the Romans 
learned also from the Etruscans, though it never was 
completely naturahzed among them. To the end they 
regarded it as a foreign art. 

193. The early republic, or the period between 500 
and 200 B.C., witnessed great changes in the Roman 
state and in its rehgion. At the beginning Rome was 
but one member of a league of city-states; at its close 
she was mistress of Central and Southern Italy, of 
Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as of Spain. The 
struggles incident to this expansion and the commerce 
that followed in its train brought many new gods to 
Rome. The most important of these were of Greek 
origin. Greeks had colonized Southern Italy, but in the 
war with Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, early in the third 
century, Rome became mistress of the Greek territories. 
Even before this, trade had begun to bring Greek gods 



272 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

to Rome, though the earliest of them were not recognized 
as Greek. Merchants brought the worship of Hercules 
to Tibur (Tivoli), and from there his worship spread to 
Rome as that of a native Italian god. Castor and 
Pollux, gods of the cavalr3anen of Greeks in Italy, had 
estabhshed themselves at Tusculum in Latium. After- 
ward, thinking them native deities, the Romans wel- 
comed them as such to their city. During this period 
the Sibylline oracles were introduced among the Romans. 
As these were consulted in times of difficulty, suggestions 
for appeal to other Greek gods were naturally received. 
Apollo was introduced from Cumae as a physician in the 
sixth century B.C. and given a place in the Campus 
Martins. Others came, but were kept outside the 
pomerium; such were Demeter, Dionysos, and Kore. 
They were given Latin names: Ceres, Liber, Libera. 
As knowledge of Greek deities increased, old Latin 
divinities of a shadowy nature took on the character of 
the corresponding Greek gods. Thus Mercury was 
understood to be Hermes, and Neptune, Poseidon. On 
account of a pestilence at Rome in 292 B.C., the worship 
of Aesculapius was introduced from Epidaurus. In 
249 B.C. the worship of Pluto and Persephone was also 
estabhshed in the Campus Martins. They were called 
Dis and Proserpina. 

Along with new deities came a knowledge of Greek 
mythology, which the Romans assimilated with great 
eagerness. They rapidly adapted their own deities to 
the conceptions of the new myths. Many of the Greek 
legends were taken over bodily, but all of Roman life 
was measured against a Greek background, and new 
stories concerning it were invented according to the 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 273 

Greek pattern. It was thus that the story of the 
founding of Rome by Romulus came into existence. 

The influx of foreign cults was accompanied by the 
influx of foreign immigrants. This fact, together with 
the experiences through which the Romans were passing, 
led to a great increase of the emotional element in 
rehgion. This new emotional element in its eagerness 
for satisfaction prompted the people to lay hold upon 
whatever promised to afford new experiences. Thus it 
happened that from this time to the end of the repubhc 
the Roman rehgion was characterized by what was 
called supersHtio. 

194. The later republic. — ^At the close of the Second 
Punic War Rome found herself a world-power. She 
was mistress of the western Mediterranean, and through 
her championship of the Greeks and her defeat of 
Antiochus III on Asiatic soil in 190 B.C., she assumed 
the position of arbiter of eastern Mediterranean affairs, 
which ultimately subjugated to her the countries of that 
region. It is often said that poHtical expansion called 
into being an extensive trade, and that Rome was 
gradually transformed from an agricultural to a com- 
mercial city. In course of time the character of its 
population was greatly changed. According to this 
view the change was effected by the influx of small 
farmers from the country and of foreigners from across 
the sea. A world-wide commerce is supposed to have 
created a capitalistic class. Before corporations were 
known there was Httle opportunity for such a class to 
invest surplus funds except in land. Many of the 
farmers found themselves in straits, for the invasion of 
Hannibal had destroyed the equipment of their farms, 



274 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

and they had Httle choice but to sell. In a land where 
all labor was performed by slaves, those who had lost 
their property could not work as laborers. They gravi- 
tated to Rome to swell the ranks of the unemployed. 
This view has recently been called in question, and it 
seems probable that, while there is no doubt about the 
change in the character of the population, it was brought 
about almost entirely by the importing of foreign slaves 
to Rome. These were set free and gradually formed 
about 90 per cent of the population.^ In any event the 
dignity and sobriety of the populace of the older time 
was more and more replaced by the emotional and 
explosive qualities of oriental peoples. This composite 
populace possessed the ballot and each successful 
poHtician was compelled to gain its good will. In time, 
through the increase of luxury and lax standards, the 
family began to decay. Divorce became common, and 
many who were married avoided the responsibihty of 
parenthood. These conditions produced profound reh- 
gious changes. 

The decay of the family led to the decay of the old 
family religion. The Genii and Manes of ancestors 
could not be worshiped when there were no descendants 
to perform that office. With the decay of the family 
an element of stability vanished from the state. The 
older priesthoods of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were 
retained, as well as the rex sacrorum or the official who 
had taken over the priestly duties that in earher cen- 
turies had been performed by the king, but all these 
were carefully excluded from political influence. When 

»See T. Frank, "Race Mixture in the Roman Empire," American 
Historical Review, XXI, 689-708. 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 275 

these officials were prohibited from touching the affairs 
of real life, popular interest in their functions waned. 
These cults accordingly became in some degree cere- 
monial survivals from the past. 

Along with the decay of the old, new forms of 
rehgion were introduced. The cult of Cybele, the 
Magna Mater of Phrygia, was brought in, in 204 B.C., 
to aid Rome in repelling invaders. Later the Egyptian 
Isis and other oriental goddesses were welcomed. The 
cult of the Thracian Dionysos was also introduced from 
Greece. The god was called Bacchus, and his orgiastic 
festivals were known as Bacchanalia. It was not at 
first recognized that this god was identical with Liber. 
The emotional character of the Bacchanalia accorded 
well with the growing emotionalism of the time. Cruder 
forms of Greek philosophy, such as that of the neo- 
Pythagoreans with its doctrine of the transmigration of 
the soul, were also taught. All this led to the production 
of very diverse states of mind in different people. Some 
regarded all rehgion as superstition; others, having lost 
faith in the old national forms, eagerly welcomed those 
of the foreign goddesses, hoping that they might find 
some source of supernatural help. Meanwhile the 
rulers, feeling that for the common people the forms of 
religion were necessary, rigidly supported the old 
national ceremonies. 

The two systems of philosophy that were so powerful 
in Greece at this period found their way into Italy. 
Epicureanism became popular in Italy only in the last 
century B.C. In the Epicurean system the gods were 
really superfluous; the universe was mechanical. 
Nevertheless, many an Epicurean continued to worship 



276 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

in order that some subtle influence from the idea of each 
god might enter his soul. It is difficult to tell how far 
the practical Romans were capable of being influenced 
by such ideas. One of them, Lucretius, seems, however, 
while dissolving the old religious thought in the acid 
of his philosophy, to have attained a true mystic feeling 
for the Power unseen which manifests itself in nature.' 

Stoicism, in some respects the most religious of the 
Greek philosophies, was introduced into Rome by 
Scipio about the middle of the second century B.C. Two 
great thoughts dominate Stoicism. The first is that 
the whole universe in all its forms shows unmistakably 
the working of reason and mind; the second is that man 
alone of all creatures shares with God the full possession 
of reason. Cicero, though an Eclectic, leaned to the 
Stoic school. In his De natura deorum he sets forth a 
view of God that is kindred to that of the eighteenth- 
century Deists. His conception of the relation of man 
to God is lofty, and his conception of human duty noble, 
but it is doubtful whether they had sufficient definite- 
ness to grip the conscience of a Roman in his daily 
dealings with others. 

In the face of the disintegration of the old religion 
which all these causes produced, Varro, the most learned 
of the Romans,* endeavored by learning to revive faith 
in the old religion. He interpreted its forms as parables 
of the Stoic philosophy, but the older faith was dead, 
and mere antiquarian erudition was powerless to bring 
it back to life. 

^ See J. B. Carter, The Religious Life of Ancient Rome (Boston, 191 1), 
pp. 60 ff. 

" He died in 28 B.C. at the age of eighty-nine. 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 277 

195. State religion of the early empire. — One of the 

marvels of history is the religious revival wrought by 
the emperor Augustus/ Called to fight for his existence 
at the age of nineteen, he soon crushed his enemies, and 
proceeded to rule not so much by force as by tact. 
Augustus was gifted with insight to understand that no 
motive is so powerful in human affairs as the reHgious 
motive. He accordingly set himself to revive the cults 
that had been permitted to fall into decay. The temple 
of Jupiter on the Capitoline and that of Apollo on the 
Palatine rose again in renewed splendor, as did many 
others. He asserts, indeed, that he rebuilt eighty-two 
temples in and about the city of Rome. The priest- 
hoods were reorganized, purged of politicians, and 
taught their religious functions. The religious festivals 
were revived and were made by their splendor to appeal 
once more to the populace. The worship of the Lares 
at the corners of the streets, which Julius had sup- 
pressed because it had afforded opportunity for political 
intrigue, was revived, and with the Lares the Genius of 
the emperor was associated as an object of veneration. 
To a degree faith in the older religion came back, and 
loyalty to the emperor was fostered. 

Augustus also gave to the whole empire a religion. 
Each of the many nations under his scepter acknowl- 
edged the sway of a different god. In order that there 
might be a common reHgious bond he organized emperor- 
worship. In the East it was no new thing to worship a 
king. Many kings had claimed, even while Hving, to 
be gods. In the West, however, this deification of the 

^ See Fowler, Religious Experience of the Roman People, Lecture 
XIX; Carter, The Religious Life of Ancient Rome, pp. 66 ff. 



278 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

living man was more difficult. As the imperial religion 
demanded only the worship of the Genius of the Hving 
emperor, it was adapted to both East and West, though 
in the East the distinction between the Genius and 
the emperor was usually meaningless. Temples for the 
worship of the emperors grew up in the capitals of all 
the provinces, and in time in the smaller cities. To the 
temples organized priesthoods were attached. In time 
these grew into a hierarchy. The priests in metropolitan 
towns assumed authority over those in outlying districts. 

At first sight the worship of Jupiter appears to be 
coextensive with the worship of the emperors, but this 
appearance is deceptive, for, while temples to Jupiter 
were found everywhere, they were temples to the local 
god under the Latin name. 

196. Philosophies under the Empire. — ^The Stoic 
philosophy continued to influence a small but select 
circle. As the social religion of the family and the city- 
state had disappeared, and the empire was a vast 
agglomeration of different peoples, an individualism in 
religion arose. Men began to think of individual sin 
and of individual salvation. In Stoic circles, influenced 
by Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, sin was 
ignorance; knowledge was salvation. The holy man 
was the wise man. It was assumed that he who knows 
the truth will do it. This philosophic gospel was, how- 
ever, for the few. 

Of far wider influence were the bands of wandering 
Cynic philosophers who on the street corners or on temple 
steps preached to the people the salvation of conmion 
sense and the return to nature. In the Cynic view 
knowledge is courage, justice, and wisdom. The con- 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 279 

tent of virtue is one's will. According to this teaching 
each one has the means to salvation in his own power. 
The satirist, Lucian, portrays these Cynics as preaching 
with earnestness and genuine enthusiasm, and even 
through his satire one detects a degree of respect. 
They sought to teach men the way of life, and exerted 
a wider influence probably on the masses than the 
aristocratic Seneca, or the imperial moralist, Marcus 
AureKus. 

Another philosophy of considerable influence in 
certain parts of the empire was the neo-Platonic. Its 
precursor, if not its founder, was Plutarch, who was born 
in Greece about 50 a.d. In philosophy he was eclectic, 
adopting some ideas from Plato, some from the Pytha- 
goreans, some from the Stoics, etc. He regarded the 
gods of the nations as different names for the one divine 
nature. He held to a doctrine of demons which 
accounted for the evils of the world and even for the 
disgusting usages of some religions. He regarded the 
gods as "our chief est friends"; he coupled with faith in 
them the great "hypotheses of immortahty"; he kept 
faith in an ultimate good. He pointed the way which 
many, with deepening emotion, followed. We call the 
way neo-Platonism. It was a "strange medley of 
thought and mystery, piety, magic, and absurdity." 
It had little to do with Plato. 

197. Mystery Religions. — In the quest for personal 
salvation, which was inaugurated by the emergence 
of individuaHsm, oriental mystery-religions ultimately 
outstripped philosophy in popularity. These religions 
appealed to the imagination on account of their great 
antiquity, their elaborate myths, their mystic rites, 



28o THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

their promises of regeneration and of salvation. Those 
that exerted a wide influence were three in number: the 
cult of Cybele of Phrygia, of Isis of Egypt, and of Mithra 
of Persia. 

(i) The cult of Cybele had been introduced into 
Rome in 204 B.C. It was the cult of the Asiatic Phry- 
gians. The goddess personified the fertility of the earth. 
She was supposed to have a son, Attis, who, like similar 
gods in matriarchal cults, was subordinate to her. In 
Phrygia it had been customary from time immemorial to 
mourn the death of the god during the winter, when 
vegetation languished. In the springtime, when it was 
reviving, the Phrygians celebrated festivals on wooded 
hilltops to the goddess and her son. These festivals 
were often orgies of wild excitement. Great emotion 
was experienced because the god now lived again. 
Sacrifices were offered to the two deities; men cut them- 
selves that their own blood might mingle with that of 
the sacrifice; they even, sacrificed their viriHty, and 
became priests of the goddess. Such was the rehgion 
that unwittingly the sedate Romans of the repubhc 
admitted to their midst. As soon as its character was 
known, it was hedged about by laws which prevented 
its spread among the people. It did not become popular 
until the time of the empire. Claudius is said to have 
bestowed imperial sanction upon the Phrygian cult, and 
thereafter it spread rapidly. It seems from the begin- 
ning to have sought to bring the worshiper into harmony 
with deity by ecstatic and mystic ceremonies. One of 
these was the tauroholium. A pit was dug, the initiate 
was placed in it, the opening was covered with planks, 
and a bull was slaughtered above. Through the crevices 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 281 

of the planks the blood dripped down upon the novice. 
He received it on his face, in his ears, his eyes, his 
nostrils; he even let it touch his palate and swallowed it. 
Of course it flowed over his body. When he emerged he 
was congratulated as one who had put away his old 
nature and been united in life to the goddess. Revolt- 
ing as the ceremony was, many sought salvation in this 
way, and the cult was introduced into most of the 
provinces of the empire.^ In time, however, the bar- 
baric character of the ceremonies and the revolting 
nature of the myths connected with the cult — ^features 
that even allegory could not render attractive — caused 
it to lose its hold upon the people. 

(2) Another mystery-religion that became popular 
was that of Isis. This goddess was the Egyptian mother 
of fertility, of immemorial antiquity, who, with her son 
or husband Osiris, was worshiped throughout Egypt. 
Her worship in early Egypt had been attended with 
ceremonies which had set forth in a crass way the idea 
of the propagation of Hfe, but these features had been 
greatly toned down in the time of the Ptolemies. In the 
rehgious estabHshment brought about by Ptolemy Lagi, 
Osir-Api (corrupted to Serapis) had taken the place of 
Osiris, and a ritual in the Greek language had been 
established. While the Egyptians quickly recognized 
in Serapis their old god Osiris, the older features of the 
cult which were repugnant to Greek sensibilities were 
eliminated. 

During the Ptolemaic period the cult of Isis spread 
through the Mediterranean world. Temples to her 

'See F. Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism 
(Chicago, 191 1), pp. 46-72. 



282 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

were built in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, the Aegean 
islands, and even in Italy. Though the grosser features 
of early Egyptian days had been suppressed, Isis was 
still regarded as a patron of illicit love. These features 
of her worship were repugnant to the sturdy Romans, 
and of the devotees of such cults the followers of Isis 
only suffered persecution. In 48 B.C. the chapels of 
Isis were demoHshed, and in 28 b.c. it was forbidden to 
erect her altars within the pomerium. Aversion to her 
worship appears to have waned under the empire, for 
Caligula about 38 a.d. erected a great temple to Isis 
on the Campus Martins, of which Domitian later made 
one of Rome's splendid monuments. About 215 a.d. 
Caracalla built the goddess a temple still more mag- 
nificent. The third century marks the cKmax of the 
power of Isis in the empire. The Serapeum at Alex- 
andria was destroyed by the patriarch Theophilus in 391, 
yet the processions of Isis were witnessed on the streets 
of Rome as late as 394 a.d. 

It is difficult at this distance to understand the exact 
features of the Egyptian cult which made it so popular. 
Egyptian theology, or rather mythology, was always in 
a fluid state, and it appears that during the centuries of 
her worship by the Romans Isis lost her early character 
and became the chaste protector of virginity. It seems 
probable, however, that the great attraction of the cult 
lay in its conception of the life to come. In the older 
Egyptian religion Osiris had become the judge of the 
dead; each person, after death, must pass an examination 
before Osiris before entering upon his career in the other 
world. Serapis had taken the place of Osiris, and in a 
period when the other life was very real, men sought 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 283 

eternal salvation in a cult that especially prepared 
them for the great assize of the judgment day. Like all 
early reKgions, this cult had its ceremonial purifications 
and ablutions. These in time came to have a deep 
significance. They were regarded as having power to 
wash away the stains of sin and to purify character. 
Thus the cult of Isis came to be popular among those 
who were earnestly seeking personal salvation.' 

(3) Perhaps even more popular than these was the 
cult of Mithra. Mithra was an old Aryan sun-god.* 
His cult was a survival of those heathen elements of 
Persia which Zoroaster had been unable to suppress. 
As it developed on Persian soil, it took on the duaHstic 
tendencies of later Zoroastrianism — the belief in Ahri- 
man, and in angels and demons, together with the idea 
of perpetual strife between the good and the evil. By 
the time the cult reached the West it had been deeply 
penetrated by Babylonian influences. It had absorbed 
the Babylonian sidereal conceptions, as well as its 
systems of conjuration. Mithraism also brought from 
Persia the general features of Zoroastrian eschatology. 
Its devotees beheved in a very real heaven and hell. It 
developed a rich Hturgy, with initiations, sacraments, 
and love-feasts.^ It recognized in an emphatic way the 
evil of the world with which men were impressed in the 
early centuries of our era, and offered a plausible expla- 
nation of it; it confronted the individual with the 

* See Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, pp. 73- 
102; T. G. Tucker, Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paid 
(New York, 19 10), pp. 372 ff. 

"See above, p. 121. 

3 Cf. Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, pp. 135-61; 
The Mysteries of Mithra (Chicago, 1903), passim. 



584 THE RELIGIONS Of t&E WORLD 

alternative of a happy heaven or an endless hell; and it 
offered mystic means of grace by which heaven could 
be secured. Moreover, the cult was very adaptable. 
In Babylonia, Mithra was Shamash under another 
name; in Rome he was Jupiter; in Syria, Baal. Wher- 
ever it spread it adapted itself to the local surroundings 
and absorbed the important features of the local cult. 

The introduction of Mithraism into Rome dates 
from her conquests of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. 
Though there is said to have been a congregation of 
Mithra's votaries in Rome in the time of Pompey in 
67 B.C., the real diffusion of his mysteries began with the 
Flavians in the last quarter of the first century a.d. 
Mithraism became more important under the Antonines 
in the second century, and still more so under the Severi 
in the third. At the beginning of the fourth century 
Mithra seemed on the point of eclipsing all rivals, for 
in 307 A.D. Diocletian, Galerius, and Licinius met at 
Carnuntum on the banks of the Danube and dedicated 
a sanctuary to Mithra, ^'the protector of their empire."' 
Indeed, when Const antine accepted the sign of the cross, 
as told in the well-known legend, it is doubtful whether he 
was able to distinguish between the cross of the Galilean 
and the wheel-Hke sun disk, the symbol of Mithra. 

Of all the mystery-reUgions the cult of Mithra was 
the purest and most austere. It contained no impure 
ceremonies and nothing ethically repulsive. It exceeded 
the others in moral elevation, and was well calculated to 
gratify the imagination, appeal to the heart, and stimu- 
late the moral instincts. Soon after the famous meeting 
of Diocletian, Galerius, and Licinius, Constantine gave 

* See Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. 150. 



THE RELIGION OF ROME 285 

to Christianity that imperial patronage which helped 
to make Christianity dominant. After that the history 
of the religion of the Roman Empire is merged in the 
history of Christianity. 

198. Summary. — ^The rehgion of Rome began in a 
vague worship of spirits — as vague as that of the 
Japanese. This worship had for its center the family 
and the perpetuation of the family. The struggle for 
existence merged this family reHgion in course of time 
into the rehgion of the state. Both were restrained, 
ethical according to the standards of the time, and 
devoted to practical ends. As the city-state expanded 
into the empire the social and commercial changes 
created conditions which undermined the old rehgions, 
and foreign influences and manners found a ready 
welcome. Decay of faith, and a growth of superstition 
and skepticism followed. Augustus called into exist- 
ence the state religion, to which many in the empire 
responded, but the rise of individualism with the thirst 
for personal salvation opened the door to the mystery- 
rehgions of the East, and also to Christianity, which 
ultimately triumphed over them all. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 189: cf. J. H. Breasted, Ancient Times (New York, 

1916), pp. 484-713- 
On sees. 190-195: W. Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience 

of the Roman People (London, 191 1), Lectures IV-XIX. 
On sec. 197: F. Cnmont, The Oriental Religions in Roman 

Paganism (Chicago, 191 1). 

CLASS B 

G. F. Moore, History of Religions (New York, 1913), chaps. X3d, xxii. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 

He was their god, 

The withered Cromm with many mists .... 
To him without glory 

They would kill their piteous wretched offspring, 
With much wailing and peril, 
To pour their blood around Cromm Cruaich. 
Milk and corn 

They would ask of him speedily 
In return for a third of their healthy issue. 
Great was the horror and fear of him. 
To him the noble Gaels would prostrate themselves. 
— ^Leabhar Laignech, Book of Leinster (London, 

1880), 2i3b^ 

High blows Heimdallr, the horn is aloft; 
Odin communes with Mimir's head; 
Trembles Yggdrasill's towering ash; 
The old tree wails when Ettin is loosed. 

— From the Prose Edda.' 

Wroth stood Roskva's Brother, 
And Magan's Sire wrought bravely: 
With terror Thor's staunch heart-stone 
Trembled not, nor Thjalfi's. 

— Song of Eilifr.3 

* Quoted by J. A. MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts 
(Edinburgh, 191 1), p. 79. 

* A. G. Brodeur, The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (New York, 
1916), p. 80. 

3 Ibid., p. 108. 

286 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 287 

Bravely Thor fought for Asgard 
And the followers of Odin. 

— Song of Gamli.' 

Many a fearless swordsman 
Received the Tears of Freyja 
The more the morn when foemen 
We murdered; we were present. 

— Song of Skuli Thorsteinsson.^ 

Then up and down the river he sought some ferryman; 

He heard a splash of water; to hearken he began. 

'Twas made by elfin women within a fountain fair; 

Who fain to cool their bodies were bathing themselves there. 

They floated like to sea-birds before him on the flood, 
It seemed to him their foresight must needs be sure and good. 

— The Lay of the Nibelungs.^ 

199. The Celts, a name of uncertain derivation, is 
applied to the Welsh, Irish, the Highlanders of Scot- 
land, the people of Brittany, and those who speak, or 
have spoken, languages kindred to theirs. "The earliest 
Celtic kingdom was in the region between the upper 
waters of the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Danube, where 
probably in Neolithic times the formation of their 
Celtic speech as a distinctive language began. Here 
they first became known to the Greeks, probably as a 
semi-mythical people, the Hyperboraeans — the folk 
dweUing beyond the Ripoean Mountains, whence 
Boreas blew — ^with whom Hecateus in the fourth century 
identifies them The name generally applied 

^ A. G. Brodeur, The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, p. 109. 
» Ihid., p. 148. 

3 A. Horton and E. Bell, The Lay of the Nibelungs (London, 1898), 
U. 1533, 1536. 



288 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

by the Romans to the Celts was 'Galli,' a term finally 
confined by them to the people of Gaul. Successive 
bands of Celts went forth from this comparatively 
restricted territory, until the Celtic 'empire' for some 
centuries before 300 B.C. included the British Isles, parts 
of the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, North Italy, Belgium, 
Holland, and a great part of Germany and Austria. 
When the Graman tribes revolted, Celtic bands appeared 
in Asia Minor, and remained there as the Galatian 
Celts."^ Later, by the coming of the Teutons and other 
races, the Celts were gradually confined to Brittany, 
Wales, Ireland, and Northern Scotland. 

200. Celtic animism. — The Celts down to the coming 
of Christianity attributed to everything a spirit or a 
"personality," as personaHty was then understood. 
Many of these " per sonaH ties," such as the earth, sun, 
moon, sea, wind, rivers, wells, and certain trees and 
plants, were worshiped. Thus inscriptions from the 
Pyrenees tell of the Fagus Deus, or divine beech.^ 
An old Irish glossary gives daur, ''oak," as an early Irish 
name for god.^ It has been argued that the holy object 
within the central triHths at Stonehenge was an oak.^ 
"The Irish bile was a sacred tree of great age, growing 

over a holy well or fort Another Irish bile was 

a yew described in a poem as 'a firm strong god.' 
The other bile were ash trees. "^ The Druids held nothing 
more sacred than the mistletoe. When it was found 
growing on a tree it was thought to show that that tree 
had been selected as the object of especial divine favor. 

^ From J. A. MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 18 f. 
* Ibid., p. 198. 4 Ibid., p. 200. 

3 Ibid., p. 199. 5 Ibid., p. 201. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 289 

It was cut by a Druid, clad in white, with a golden 
sickle; it was caught in a white cloth, and two white 
bulls were sacrificed beneath the tree.^ 

Evidence of the sacredness of waters — lakes, rivers, 
and wells — ^is also abundant. In inscriptions the names 
of rivers are preceded by a divine epithet, such as dia 
or augusta. St. Columba is said to have routed the 
spirits of a Scottish fountain which was worshiped as a 
god. A yearly festival, three days in length, was held 
at Lake Gevaudan. Animals were sacrificed, and gar- 
ments, food, and wax were thrown into the waters.* 
St. Patrick found the pagans of his day worshiping a 
well called slan, "health-giving," and offering sacrifices 
to it. Stan occurs in the names of many wells, a 
goodly number of which are venerated to this day. 
Sometimes the well itself is still venerated, though it 
is more often its saint. As in other parts of the world, 
offerings were thrown into sacred wells. ^ 

Out of these natural objects of worship many deities 
were formed. The names of river or fountain deities 
are not infrequent. Such are Acionna, Aventia, Bor- 
mana, Brixia, Carpundia, Clutoida, Divona, Sirona, 
Ura — ^well-nymphs; and Icauna (the Yonna), Matrona, 
and Sequana (the Seine) — river-goddesses. The moon 
seems to have been the most important object in nature 
to the early Celts. Festivals of growth began, not at 
simrise, but in the evening when the moon arose. The 
Celtic moon-goddess was sometimes equated with 
Diana.'* If we may believe the Christian missionaries, 
the ancient Celts did not always distinguish between the 

^ Ibid., p.. 205. 3 Ibid., p. 194. 

' Ibid., p. 181. * Ibid., pp. 177 f , 



290 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

natural object and the god. Among them a sun-hero 
held a prominent place.' There are indications that 
originally certain animals were sacred to the Celts, and 
that totemism existed among them. In historic times 
this had declined, and animals were regarded mainly 
as symbols or attributes of divinity.* 

201. Celtic gods. — JuKus Caesar in his Commentaries 
on the Gallic War gives a hst of the gods of the conti- 
nental Celts, equating them after Roman fashion with 
Roman deities. He declares that their principal divinity 
was Mercury, whom they held to be the inventor of the 
arts and the guide on roads and journeys, and to have 
especial power in the matter of acquiring money and 
in commercial transactions. His images were especially 
numerous.^ A GalKc god identified with Mercury was 
Ogmios. Lucian, a Greek who traveled ar^d wrote in 
the second century of our era, identified him with 
Heracles. 4 Another Celtic god identified with Mercury 
was Moccus, a swine-god. A similar god was worshiped 
in England, for an inscription from Yorkshire is dedicated 
to "the god who invented roads and paths." Another 
local god of roads, also identified with Mercury, was 
called Cimiacinus.s Caesar's "Mercury" was in reality 
several local gods of agriculture, commerce, and culture. 

Caesar mentions next Apollo, who wards off diseases. 
As in the case of Mercury, many local gods were identi- 
fied with Apollo. In an inscription found in Cumber- 

' Cf . John Rhys, The Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by 
Celtic Heathendom (London, 1898), Lecture V. 

» Cf . MacCulloch, op, cit., chap. xiv. 

3 vi. 14. ■♦ Lucian Herakles i f . 

s MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 24 ff . 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 291 

land Apollo is called Maponus, a name connected with 
the old Welsh mapon, sl boy or child. A boy Apollo was 
worshiped by Celts as far from England as Transyl- 
vania/ Another god, or group of gods, identified with 
Apollo was called Grannos. They were gods of thermal 
springs. In eastern Gaul and the Rhine provinces a 
goddess, Dirona or Sirona, was associated with Grannos. 
She too was a water-spirit or an earth-goddess. Belenos 
was another Celtic Apollo. The name is derived from 
a root that means '' shining one." Belenos was accord- 
ingly a sun-god.* Caesar next mentions the war-god 
Mars. Some sixty names or titles of Celtic war-gods 
are known. They are probably local tribal deities. 
Some of the names show that the gods were thought of 
as valiant warriors: thus we have Caturix, "battle- 
king," Albiorix, "world-king." In Britain a common 
name was Belatu-Cadros, meaning perhaps "comely in 
slaughter. "3 

The next god mentioned by Caesar is Jupiter. At 
least three different deities have been identified with 
him — a god with a hammer, Taranis, a crouching god 
called Cernunnos, and a god called Esus or Silvanus. 
These gods are often represented with hammers — to 
early men a symbol of power — and were thought to 
be thunder ers. 4 

Caesar lastly mentions Minerva, who taught the 
beginnings of the arts. In Ireland such a goddess was 
called Brigit. What the name of the corresponding 
Gallic goddess was it is impossible to say. The Celts 
had many goddesses, some worshiped as individuals. 

^ Rhys, op. cit., pp. 21 f. 3 Ibid., pp. 27 f. 

' MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 24 f . * Ibid., pp. 29-39. 



292 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

generally as the consorts of male deities, others — and 
these were much more numerous — worshiped as group- 
goddesses.' In connection with their worship phallic 
symbols appear at times to have been employed.^ 
There were numerous local divinities and tutelary 
deities. Those that have been mentioned, while the 
most important, are representatives of classes. They 
thought of their deities as like men but much more 
powerful. The most interesting way to indicate the 
likenesses and differences of conception among the 
different Celtic nations without going into wearisome 
detail is to glance at the different national mythological 
cycles. It appears from these myths that, as among 
other peoples of similar develop^ient, there was believed 
to exist between gods and men a class of demigods or 
heroes. There is evidence of a cult of the dead among 
the Celts, and some of their deities may have been 
dei&ed mortals. 

202. Irish myths. — Three cycles of divine and heroic 
myths are known in Ireland, one telling of Tuatha De 
Danann, another of Ctichulainn, and the third of Fionn. 
They are distinct in character and contents,^ though 
the gods of the first cycle often help the heroes of the 
later cycles. 

(i) Tuatha De Danann means "the tribes or folk 
of the goddess Danu."^ The name appears to have 
been given because the goddess had three sons, Brian, 
luchar, and lucharbar. These sons, in the hands of 
annalists and poets, are sometimes three kings and some- 

^ Cf . MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 40 f . 

» Cf. R. C. MacLagan, Scottish Myths (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 84 flf., 
214 ff. 

3 Ibid., chap. x. < Cf . MacCulloch, op. cit., chap. v. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 293 

times three gods. They are associated with hills and 
mounds which were resting-places of the dead. They 
figure in many a tale. In later times they were regarded 
as gods in exile, as extraordinary fairies, and sometimes 
as demons. Danu is in the mythology more important 
than her sons. She is, like Ishtar, called the mother of 
the gods. At times she is identified with a goddess of 
culture and the arts, called Brigit, who, like Vesta, was 
in some localities a goddess of fire. Brigit was too 
popular to be suppressed by Christianity, and survives 
in Christian worship as Saint Brigit. Other goddesses 
remembered in the traditions are Cleena, Vera, and a 
river-goddess, Clota. Though the Irish gods were 
fighters, there were special war-gods. More prominent 
than these were the war-goddesses Morrigan, Neman, 
and Macha. Badb sometimes takes the place of one 
of these. Women as well as men fought in ancient 
Ireland, so their goddesses were naturally warriors. 
With Danu and Brigit were associated other goddesses 
of fertility, together with their sons. The pre-eminence 
of goddesses in Ireland has led some to believe that early 
Irish society was matriarchal. 

(2) The second group of myths consists of a cycle of 
stories of one Cuchulainn, a kind of demigod.' The 
tales are preserved in the Book of the Dun Cow and the 
Book of Leinster and must have attained their present 
form in the seventh or eighth century. The tales are 
supposed, however, to relate to a time synchronous with 
the beginning of the Christian Era. Cuchulainn was 
the son of Dechtire, a goddess. One form of the story 
makes his father the god Lug; in other forms his father 

=" Ibid., chap. vii. 



294 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

was Sualtaim or Conchobar, a brother of the goddess. 
He possessed great strength and skill when very young. 
One of his early exploits was the slaying of the watch 
dog of Culann, the smith. To appease Culann's anger 
he offered to act as guardian in the dog's place; hence 
he gained his name Cu Chulainn, "Culann's hound." 
At the age of seven he overcame three mighty champions. 
As he grew up he was unrivaled in strength, wisdom, and 
skill. Everywhere women fell in love with him. After 
his death it is said that "thrice fifty queens had loved 
him." He begat many children. For ten years he was 
the champion of Ulster. He fought many battles. His 
love affairs and his struggles form the subject-matter 
of the tales. He has been compared to Herakles and 
is regarded by some as a solar hero. 

(3) The Fionn saga has to do with the exploits of 
Fionn, a mythical hero of Leinster, his father Cumal, 
and his son and grandson. While Cuchulainn has been 
the saga of the Hterary class, Fionn has been the saga 
of the people. It has received constant additions, some 
of them as recently as the eighteenth century. The 
stories, like those of all sagas, have to do with hunting, 
fighting, and love-making. They embody the Celtic 
characteristics, vivacity, valor, kindness, tenderness, 
boastfulness, and fiery temper. Some of the details, 
such as cooking game on red-hot stones wrapped in 
sedge, reveal the primitive character of the age in which 
the cycle began. MacCulloch believes that the saga 
was inherited by the Celts from their non-Celtic pred- 
ecessors in Scotland and Ireland. As there must have 
been much aboriginal blood in the veins of the common 
people of these countries, he accounts in this way for 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 295 

the fact that among the common people the saga of 
Fionn was more popular than that of Cuchulainn. 

203. Myths of the Brythons. — The myths of the 
Celtic inhabitants of England are now chiefly found in 
Welsh sources. The chief of these is the Mabinogion, 
a collection of tales, four of which belong to the cycle of 
King Arthur. Two others are attributed to the same 
period, and the rest are independent of Arthurian 
influence. The name Mabinogion signifies "instruction 
for the young." Other sources are poems such as the 
Triads and the Taliesin, and, for the names of the gods, 
ancient inscriptions. The Brythons had their own 
gods and cycles of myths, though the forms assumed by 
the myths in the later poets (some of the sources were 
written or interpolated in the twelfth century) may have 
been due to Irish Influence. 

A goddess Don, the equivalent of Danu, a goddess 
of fertility, was the mother of the deities Gwydion, 
Gilvsethwy, Amaethon, Govannon, and Arianrhod, 
with her sons Dylan and Llew. Llew is the Welsh 
form of the Irish Lug. In the myths these deities, Hke 
the gods and goddesses of Homer, figure in amours, 
quarrels, trickery, and broils. Another group of gods 
in the Mabinogion circles about Llyr, whose name is 
connected with the Irish Ler, a sea-god. They are 
apparently opposed to the group of Don. Into the 
stories of this group elements from the Teutons and 
Norsemen have probably filtered, though it is barely 
possible that the features in question were native to all 
three peoples. In Geoffrey and the chroniclers Llyr 
became a king whose story was immortalized by Shake- 
speare. These and many other deities and demigods 



Ctg6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

figure as men in Welsh tales. Their loves and hates, 
their rivalries and strifes, are told in various forms after 
the manner of early sagas. One of these deities was 
Taliesin, a god of poetic inspiration, often confused with 
a sixth-century poet who bore the same name.' 

204. Celtic priests and cult. — The most venerated 
priests among the Celts were the Druids. It has been 
thought by some that they were a pre-Celtic priesthood 
of Britain* that was adopted and honored by the Celts. 
The theory appears, however, to be without foundation. 
They were a native Celtic priesthood. Druid means 
"the very knowing or wise one,"^ and the druids were 
thought to possess the key to all knowledge and magic. 
They exercised authority in the selection of rulers and 
took precedence of kings. Magical power to give or 
withhold rain or sunshine, to cause storms, to make 
women and cattle fruitful, to make objects invisible, 
to produce magic sleep, etc., was attributed to them. 
No sacrifice was complete without one of them. They 
seem to have been distinguished by some kind of a 
tonsure. At the mistletoe rite they were dressed in 
white, but at other times they wore scarlet and gold- 
embroidered robes and golden necklets and bracelets.^ 
The priestly ofiice was by no means confined to the 
Druids, though they were most honored. In the cults 
of the mother-goddesses priestesses were especially 
prominent. 

The Celtic year was originally an agricultural year, 
and their festivals were connected with the agricultural 

^ Cf. MacCulloch, op. cit., chap. vi. 

' Cf . ibid., pp. 294 f ,, for details and references, 

3 So Ibid., p. 293. ^ Strabo iv. 275. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 297 

seasons. The year was ushered in on the first of Novem- 
ber by the feast of Samhain.^ This was apparently a 
threshing festival. Possibly when the Celts lived in 
more southerly lands it had been a harvest festival. 
At this festival new fires were brought into each house 
from a sacred bonfire, kindled probably by friction of 
pieces of wood. The putting away of old fires expelled 
the spirits of evil; the new fire, obtained in this sacred 
way, assured the ritual purity necessary for a festival. 
Forecasts by divination, to learn the fate for the coming 
year, were also made. Animals were slaughtered for 
winter consumption. Samhain was also a festival of the 
dead; their ghosts were fed at this time. As winter 
came on the powers of growth were suffering ecHpse, 
and men sought by magical means to aid them. This 
they did by means of a bonfire, from which brands were 
carried about and new fires Ht in every house. In North 
Wales people jumped through the fire. There was a 
sacrifice at Samhain and there is some reason to believe 
that in early times it was a human sacrifice. Caesar 
bears witness that in his time human sacrifices were 
offered by the Druids to avert sickness and to secure 
victory in battle.^ 

Beltane was a spring festival celebrated on the first 
of May. It was a festival of the sim shining in his 
strength and was intended to promote fertility. Bon- 
fires were kindled, often on hills, Hghted by friction from 
a rotating wheel. The house fires were extinguished. 
.Cattle were driven through fires, or between two 
fires, to keep them in health during the year. Some- 
times the fire was made beneath a sacred tree or pole, 

^ MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 258 f , ^ Commentaries vi. 14. 



298 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

which has survived in the Maypole. Connected with 
the festival was a May king or queen or both. These 
represented the fertile powers of nature. Probably 
there was a considerable amount of sexual laxity, per- 
mitted for the magic purpose of assisting the produc- 
tivity of nature. The ritual marriage of the king and 
queen of the May had the same intent. Sacrifices were 
offered. Probably at times a human victim was 
included.' 

Lugnasad, celebrated on the first of August, took 
its name from the god Lug. Its ritual did not differ 
materially from that of Beltane. Bonfires were lighted 
to represent the sun, and people danced around them. 
Burning brands were carried through the fields to assist 
the ripening of the crops. Marriages were also arranged 
at this feast, and promiscuous love-making occurred. 
Like Beltane, its purpose was to secure a plenteous 
harvest.* 

The Celtic temples were sacred groves. From the 
allusions of many writers we know that they had altars. 
These were probably rude heaps of stones. They 
represented their gods by images, and certain weapons, 
as the hammer and axe, were also symbols of gods.^ 

205. The soul and the hereafter. — No people except 
the ancient Egyptians have had such a real faith in the 
life after death as the Celts. They did not beHeve 
simply in the survival of the soul apart from the body, 
but they expected the dead to live again in bodies 
identical in form and needs with those which they had 
already inhabited. There are almost no Celtic ghost 

* MacCulloch, op. cit., pp. 264 fif. 

» Ibid.y pp. 268 ff. 3 Ibid., chap. xix. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 299 

stories. When the dead appear, it is in bodies like the 
living. Their burial customs and Hterature all attest 
their strong faith in another life. They believed that 
the souls of heroes and demigods could migrate to birds, 
animals, and the bodies of other men, but they enter- 
tained no general doctrine of transmigration for all. 
They had a keen and persistent faith in an elysium, but 
it was for deities and heroes. Ordinary men were to 
live their future life here on the earth. The insular 
Celts held that this elysium was situated on an island 
in the Western Sea, and their poets never tired of singing 
of the magic beauty of this "sweet and blessed country." 
206. The Teutons, like the Celts, belong to the Indo- 
European race. They came into Western Europe later 
than the Celts and pushed the Celts gradually to the 
extreme western regions which they now occupy. The 
Germans had reached the region of the Rhine before 
58 B.C., for Caesar found them there. Other waves of 
Teutons came later, the Goths, East Goths, and Vandals 
surging westward as late as the fourth and fifth centuries. 
Caesar's information concerning the Germans was of 
the vaguest sort.' Tacitus, who Uved at the end of the 
first and the beginning of the second century a.d., and 
who was at one time a Roman official among the Ger- 
mans, knew them much better, and his Germania is our 
oldest extended source of information concerning them. 
The Germans, as described by Tacitus, consisted of 
various tribes that often made war on one another. 
They were not savages but lacked many institutions 
found among peoples of more advanced culture. They 
Hved from the chase and from their flocks, though 

^Cf. Commentaries i. i and vi. 21 ff. 



300 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

agriculture was not unknown to them. The names of 
the tribes known to Tacitus have long since disappeared. 
Even in his day, however, the Germans treasured in 
songs, of which they were very fond, the deeds of their 
heroes. 

207. The religion of the Teutons, as reported by 
Tacitus, centered, like that of the Celts, in sacred groves, 
in which the silence of the forest seemed to bring them 
especially near to the divine. According to Tacitus 
their chief god was Mercury. It was thus that he desig- 
nated Wodan (Odin), a god of the wind, of agriculture, 
and of poetry. Tacitus was probably led to regard 
Wodan as the principal deity because the Romans were 
accustomed to identify the chief Celtic god with him. 
To Wodan human victims were offered on certain days. 
The next god mentioned by Tacitus was Hercules. 
Some of the gods identified with Hercules were Celtic 
or Roman, but among some of the Teutons the Hercules 
mentioned in inscriptions was Donar or Thor, the god 
of thunderstorms, who was regarded as a god of fertility. 
The Mars, whom Tacitus next mentions, was Tiu 
(Ziu, Tyr), a sky-god who was also a god of war. The 
name is held by many scholars to be identical with Zeus 
and Dyaush. Tacitus also mentions a goddess Isis, 
whom he beheved on inadequate grounds to be Egyp- 
tian. She was probably Frija, a mother-goddess com- 
mon to all the Teutons. He also mentioned that the 
northern Germans worshiped Mother Earth as a goddess 
called Nerthus. Perhaps it was in connection with the 
worship of this mother-goddess that they reverenced 
woman, attributing to her a spirit of augury and proph- 
ecy that was regarded as celestial. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 301 

The Teutons continued in contact with the Romans 
for more than five centuries. It is impossible, however, 
to learn that their religion was influenced by this con- 
tact. Inscriptions to gods, probably Teutonic, were set 
up in many places, but the Roman soldiers called the 
Teutonic deities by Roman names. It is a matter of 
conjecture what gods were intended in each case. 
Isolated facts come to Kght here and there. These con- 
firm the picture drawn by Tacitus. The human sacri- 
fices of the Teutons seem to have particularly impressed 
the Romans. 

208. The Teutons and Christianity. — The nominal 
conversion of the Teutons to Christianity did not at 
first radically modify either their ideas or their morals. 
"The West- Goths were converted in the fourth century, 
about 375; then the East-Goths and Vandals; early in 
the fifth century the Burgundians, later the Franks; in 
the sixth, Alamannians and Lombards; Bavarians in the 
seventh and eighth; Frisians, Hessians, and Thurin- 
gians in the eighth; Saxons in the ninth. This is for 
the Continent. Anglo-Saxons were converted about 
600 and took the lion's share in converting their Con- 
tinental brethren. Scandinavians accepted Christianity 
in the tenth and eleventh centuries."^ Most of the 
Teutons embraced the Arian form of Christianity. At 
first the Christian religion seems to have been carried 
by missionaries, like Ulfilas, or by prisoners of war. 
Later, for military or political reasons, whole tribes 
went over to Christianity in a body. The classical 
example of this is the conversion of Chlodowech (Clovis), 
king of the Franks, who was baptized on Christmas 

' F. B. Gummere, Germanic Origins (New York, 1892), p. 19. 



302 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Day, 496 A.D., and whose conversion was followed by the 
profession of Christianity on the part of many Franks. 
An even better example of rapid conversion is afforded 
by the Burgundians, who were baptized by a Gallic 
bishop after having been instructed for a period of only 
one week/ Such conversions did not immediately 
eradicate the old religion, and in the complaints of 
Christian writers of the practices of Teutonic Christians 
we learn something of Teutonic heathenism. Thus a 
missionary found among the Alamanni both heathens 
and Christians taking part in a beer sacrifice to Wodan.^ 
Three goddesses, probably survivals from the Celtic 
occupation of their country, were also worshiped by this 
tribe.^ Among the Thuringians a complaint was made 
as late as the eighth century that Christian priests 
offered sacrifice to heathen divinities, and that, on the 
other hand, heathens administered baptism as a magical 
charm.^ The Frisians, who occupied a strip of land 
extending from the North Sea in Flanders to Sleswick, 
retained their sacred groves, sacred springs, and temples, 
and stored their treasure in them. They had several 
temples on Helgoland. They retained the worship of 
heathen gods, among whom Thor, Tiu, and Frija 
are mentioned.^ Charlemagne in the eighth century 
subdued the Saxons and compelled them to accept 
Christianity only with the greatest difficulty. They 
worshiped Thor, Wodan, and a national god, Saxnot. 
We hear also of a sacred wooden pillar of unusual size 

*P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, The Religion of the Teutons 
(Boston, 1902), p. 116. 

'Ibid., p. 120. ^Ibid., p. 121. 

3 Ibid. 5 Ibid., p. 122. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 303 

among them, called Irminsul/ As among other peoples 
religious ideas and customs were hard to eradicate, and 
many of these were taken over with Christian names and 
Christian interpretations into Teutonic Christianity. 

209. The German heroic sagas. — The best known 
of the sagas is the Nihelungenlied, but there are several 
others — the Saga of the East Goths, the Hartungen 
Saga, and the Hildehrand Lay. The beginnings of 
these sagas go back to the period of migrations in the 
fourth and fifth centuries. In particular the heroes 
who struggled against the inroads of the Huns are 
celebrated. The sagas themselves took shape much 
later. The Nibelungen, for example, was, in its present 
form, written in Christian times. Its heroes and heroines 
are baptized and attend mass. Space forbids an analysis 
of these poems or an outline of their story. Like all the 
heroic poems of early peoples they celebrate the deeds 
of heroes. In the lapse of time the doings of a god or a 
mythological being were added to the deeds of a hero. 
The importance of a study of these sagas for the history 
of rehgion is that a discriminating analysis enables the 
student to learn the type of nature-myth that was 
current among the ancient Teutons.^ Thus it is believed 
that the Saga of the East Goths and the Hartungen 
Saga have been influenced by a myth of the Dioscuri 
(Castor and PoUux). The Hildehrand Lay, the story 
of a hero who, condemned to be slain, is cast out, grows 
up among strangers, becomes a wanderer, and fights 
dragons, contains elements kindred to the story of Odys- 
seus, the Celtic Cuchulainn, and similar stories among 
other nations. The similarity of these stories is thought 

^Ibid., p. 123. ' Ibid., chap. vii. 



304 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

by some to indicate that they reflect, in part, a nature- 
myth. 

The Nihelungenlied tells the story of Siegfried, a 
hero who grew up in a forest without knowledge of his 
parents, but under the care of a cunning smith. In 
combat with a dragon he came into possession of a 
boundless treasure. He then rode through fire and 
liberated a maid on a mountain, whom he awoke from 
magic sleep. Later, under the influence of a draught 
of oblivion, he forsook her and came under the influence 
of a race of demons, the Nibelungen, whose sister he 
wedded, and through whom he lost his treasure, his 
former bride, and finally his Hfe. The tale deals un- 
doubtedly with many historic characters, but Siegfried 
is believed by many to be a purely mythical sim-hero. 
Whether he represents the day, who rides through the 
light of dawn to awaken the sun, and finally dies in 
night; or summer, who through the light of spring 
awakens Hfe on the earth, only to die in winter, is 
regarded as uncertain. The sagas thus help us to see 
what sort of nature-myths mingled with the Teutonic 
conceptions of gods and heroes. They also reveal to 
us the world of dragons, demons, and giants in the 
midst of which the Teutons beHeved themselves to 
live. 

210. The Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons, who penetrated 
England in the fourth and fifth centuries, at first held 
fast to their heathenism, although Christianity had 
found a home among their Celtish predecessors in 
Britain as early as 200 a.d. For a hundred and fifty 
years they maintained their ancestral rites until they 
were converted to Christianity after the middle of the 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 305 

sixth century. The Hterature they have left us is all 
Christian, but, as in the case of the Continental Teutons, 
they brought into Christianity so many of their ancestral 
ideas and customs that some glimpses of their ancient 
heathenism may be discerned. They worshiped the 
Saxon god Saxneat (Saxnot), the gods Wodan, Thor 
(called by them Thunor), Tiu, and Baeldaeg, the Norse 
Baldr. Nicors or water sprites were also reverenced. 
Mother Earth was tilled with all manner of s)nnbolic 
rites and formulas that were supposed to promote 
fertility. Running water was believed to possess 
magic power for healing sickness. Rheumatic pains 
were thought to be brought into the limbs by gods, 
elves, or hags. They were cast out by incantations in 
which more powerful spirits were invoked. 

In the epic Beowulf, completed in its present form 
not later than the eighth century, a number of sagas 
contemporaneous with the immigration of the Anglo- 
Saxons are gathered up. There is in the epic something 
of history and something of myth, as well as later 
Christian elements. The poem relates how a Danish 
king, Hrothgar, built a splendid hall, Heorot. A 
monster, Grendel, carried off from this hall every night 
thirty thanes. No one was able to hinder it until 
BeowuK, a Geat, slew Grendel and afterward, in the 
depths of the sea, Grendel's mother. Enriched with 
spoils Beowulf returned to his native land and became 
king of the Geatas. After a long and glorious reign 
he undertook to fight a dragon who guarded a great 
treasure. He was slain, but not until he had slain the 
dragon. He died satisfied that he had won a great 
treasure of gold for his people. It is believed by some 



306 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

scholars that there are in this story the same elements 
of a sun-myth that they find in the tale of Siegfried.' 

211. The Scandinavians. — Our sources of knowledge 
for the Scandinavian religion are the so-called Eddas. 
These consist of the Elder or Poetic Edda, a collection 
of thirty-two poems composed at different periods from 
the ninth century onward; and the Younger or Prose 
Edda composed by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson in the 
thirteenth century. The authors of the Eddie poems, 
though born in Norway, were deeply affected by con- 
ceptions, stories, and poems from the British Isles.* 
In these works Teutonic heathenism appears in a purer 
form than in any other literary sources. The Scandi- 
navians worshiped Odin (Wodan) as All-Father, Tyr 
(Tiu), Bragi, a god of poetry, Thor, Frigg (Frija), who 
as Freya appears at times as a separate goddess, and 
Baldr, a god of light. A masculine form of Frigg, 
called Freyr, also bore the name Sviagodh, **god of 
Sweden.'^ A mother-goddess, Nerthus, and her mas- 
cuHne counterpart, Nordhr, were also widely worshiped 
outside of Sweden. Loki often appears in the poems 
as a divine name, but it is uncertain whether he was a 
real god or was fabricated by poets. Other deities, 
many of them late in appearing, and developed perhaps 
by epithets from older gods, were Forsete, Heimdallr, 
Hoenir, UUr, Vidharr, VaH, and the goddesses Sif and 
Idunn. 

Those most widely worshiped among the Teutons 
were Odin, Thor, Tyr, and Frigg, though, as already 

»P. D. Cantepie de la Saussaye, The Religion of the Teutons, 
chap. viii. 

» See S. Bugge, The Home of the Eddie Poems (translated by W. H. 
Schofield, London, 1899), p. xvii. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 307 

noted, their names in Germany had slightly different 
forms. The characteristics of these deities have already 
been indicated. 

212. Spirits. — In addition to the gods there was a 
widespread belief, which existed from the earhest times, 
though it underwent special development in the later 
literature, in groups of female spirits known as Wal- 
k3n-ies. Swan-maidens, and Norns. The word Walkyrie 
is found only in Norse and Anglo-Saxon, but belief in 
these spirits as Swan-maidens is found in Germany also. 
They are the spirits that give victory in battle. They 
themselves took part in battle. They were supernatural 
heroines. The Norns were similar beings, who deter- 
mined fate. Often they cannot be distinguished from 
the Walkyrie. The world was also thought to be peopled 
by elves, dwarfs, and giants, beings that figure in many 
a Teutonic tale. 

213. Temple, priesthood, and cult. — The sacred 
places of the Teutons in the time of Tacitus were groves. 
In Germany this continued to be the case down to the 
introduction of Christianity. Indeed a number of these 
continued to be venerated long after the introduction 
of Christianity and were suppressed by the church only 
with the greatest difficulty. In the grove the gods 
dwelt; to it sacrifices were brought; it was approached 
with feehngs of reverence and awe. Temples are some- 
times also mentioned, but their form is imcertain. In 
Scandinavia and Iceland we hear of many temples. 
At least four large temples existed in Denmark; over a 
hundred are known to have existed in Norway and 
several in Sweden. That at Upsala was wholly equipped 
with gold. In Iceland the old religion was thoroughly 



3o8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

organized. The country was divided into districts, 
each one of which was furnished with a certain number 
of temples, making thirty-nine in all. The Norwegian 
and Icelandic temples consisted of two buildings, an 
oblong structure in which the festivals were held, and 
a semicircular building at one end of this and separate 
from it, which contained the images of the gods and the 
altar. 

Tacitus declares that the Germans did not make 
images of their gods, but in later times they certainly 
employed them. The use of images among them can 
be traced back to the fourth century. The Teutons 
had priests and priestesses, though there appears to 
have been no organized priesthood among them like 
that of the Druids among the Celts. The priesthood 
appears to have been exercised by a sort of nobihty. 
It exerted a powerful influence from the time of Tacitus 
onward. Customs varied in different localities. The 
goddess Nerthus had a male priest, while the god 
Freyr at Upsala was attended by a priestess. 

Sacrifices were offered to the Teutonic gods, but, as 
far as our information goes, these were determined by 
necessities of state rather than by an elaborate ritual. 
Himian sacrifices appear to have been not infrequent. 
Prisoners of war especially were often reserved to be 
offered to deities. 

The early Teutons possessed no calendar, and their 
feasts do not appear to have been as thoroughly sys- 
tematized as those of the Celts. Sometimes we read 
of two gatherings each year, sometimes of three, some- 
times of four. These were held in different locahties at 
different times. When there were two festivals one 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 309 

was held about the first of May and the other in the 
autumn at Martinmas. Scandinavian sagas mention 
three festivals, all held in the winter. The great festival 
of Scandinavia was Yuletide, the mid-winter feast. 
This is, however, thought not to be ancient. Among the 
Danes we hear of a great festival, the Thietmar, which 
occurred once in nine years. While it is probable that 
these feasts were originally connected with the agri- 
cultural divisions of the year or the course of the sun, it 
is not possible to trace a connection as close as in the 
case of the Celtic feasts.^ 

214. Cosmogony, the soul, and eschatology. — Only 
in the Norse mythology is there a complete theory of 
the origin of the world. There is some evidence through 
Christian sources that other Teutons were interested 
in the subject, but we have no means of knowing just 
what their ideas were. According to the Norse con- 
ception there was, at the beginning of things, a yawning 
abyss, on the south of which was Musspellsheim, the 
home of heat, and on its north Niflheim, the home of cold 
or mist. Sparks from the former crossed the abyss and 
fell on the ice fields of the latter. They melted some of 
the ice and the result was a living giant Ymir. A cow 
also came to life, from whose milk Ymir was nourished. 
From Ymir's flesh the earth was created; from his 
bones the mountains, from his skull the sky, and from 
his blood the sea. Other giants multipKed, and from 
them the gods descended. The idea that the world 
was formed from a giant's body is found in India^ as 
well as in many parts of the world. The world was 

' See S. Bugge, The Home of the Eddie Poems, chaps, xix and xx. 
' See supra, pp. 148 flf. 



3IO THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

divided into nine districts. Asgard and Jotunheim 
(home of the giants) had been appropriated by gods 
and demigods, but the middle part of the world (Mid- 
gard) the gods had prepared as a home for man. 
Beneath it was situated Hel, the abode of the dead. 
This was at least a later view. At one time Hel was 
located in Jutland. 

The Teutons all believed in life after death. Their 
belief was of the common animistic type. Apparently 
after a while the dead faded away. They thought of the 
soul as existing apart from the body. Among them no 
such conception of the resurrection of the body was 
entertained as is found among the Eg3T)tians and Celts. 
Among the Norse a man was believed to have a sort 
of second ego, or fylgja. It was thought that this was 
identical with his soul, which dwells in his body and 
leaves it at death, but during his lifetime was beheved 
to lead an independent existence. In the earlier time 
the dead were believed to reside in the lower world or 
Hel. In the thought of later Norse and Icelandic poets, 
however, souls were believed to be wind. The sighing 
and howling of the wind, especially at night, were thought 
to be the cries of departed souls. The dead at times 
were thought to come to life again. Souls could not 
only come back into bodies again but could change their 
forms and take the shape of animals or birds. This is 
the substance of the belief in werewolves and the Norse 
bersekers. 

In the Viking period there was developed in the North 
belief in a Walhalla, or heroes' paradise. Into it those 
who had fallen in battle were admitted and there led 
a life of feasting and joyous combat. 



RELIGION OF THE CELTS AND TEUTONS 311 

In the later Edda it is declared that a time will 
come when there will be a Fimbul-winter (three winters 
without an intervening summer). The ship Naglfar 
(nail ship), built from the nails of the dead, will come 
from the land of the giants. It will bring Hrymr to the 
final conflict. Tyr and the dog Garm will kill each 
other, vengeance will be taken on the Fernis-wolf, and 
after this a new earth and a rejuvenated race of gods 
will arise from the waters. These conceptions of final 
struggle and a new earth were undoubtedly shaped under 
the stimulus of Christian eschatology. 

215. Summary. — ^The religions of the Celts and 
Teutons, like those of Babylon and Eg3^t, were religions 
of peoples emerging from a primitive state to a period 
of literary expression. They have contributed to the 
literatures of Western Europe many a character, 
literary theme, and illustration. They have given to 
our race and kindred peoples their May Day festivals 
and to Halloween and some festivals such as All Saints 
Day, Martinmas, and Christmas a number of their 
characteristic customs. They have contributed to the 
calendar of saints other names than St. Brigit. It is 
in ways such as these that these religions have made 
to our civilization a contribution such that no educated 
person can afford to be ignorant of them. To the vital 
religious ideas of the modem world they have offered 
no important contribution. 



312 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sees. 199-205 read J. A. MacCuUoch, The Religion of the 
Ancient Celts (Edinburgh, 191 1). 

On sees. 206-214 read P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, The Religion 
of the Teutons (Boston, 1902), supplementing this for see. 214 
by A. Johnson's "The Religion of the Teutons" in Religions 
of the Past and Present, edited by J. A. Montgomery (Phila- 
delphia, 191 8). 

CLASS B 

The artieles "Celts" and, when published, "Teutons," in J. Hast- 
ings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (New York, 1908). 



CHAPTER XVI 

CHRISTIANITY 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was 
lost. — ^Luke 19:10. 

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. — ^I Cor. i : 24. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we 
beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), 
full of grace and truth. — ^John i : 14. 

216. Jesus was born in Palestine in the reign of 
Herod the Great shortly before the year i of our era. 
The exact year of his birth is unknown.^ His mother 
was the wife of a carpenter in Nazareth, and he was 
brought up to the same trade, which he followed until 
about thirty years old. Shortly before he reached that 
age John the Baptist had begun to preach that the 
Kingdom of God^ was near and to baptize men in token 
of their desire to be ready for its coming. Jesus went 
to be baptized of John, and as he was coming out of the 
water a voice from heaven spoke in his soul declaring 
that he was the Son of God — the expected Messiah. He 
had been reared among those who shared the messianic 
expectations of his people, and probably had shared in 
the belief in such a Messiah as that portrayed in Enoch, 
chaps. 46 and 48. The conviction that he was to fulfil 

' For a discussion of the data see G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the 
Bible (Philadelphia, 1916), Part II, chap. xxvi. 
' See above, chap, v, sec. 90. 

313 



314 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

these messianic expectations overwhelmed him, and he 
withdrew to the wilderness to think out what it meant. 
The story of his struggle there is embodied in the narra- 
tives of the temptation/ From this struggle he came 
forth with a new conception of the messiahship and the 
Kingdom of God. He had put the political ideal 
definitely behind his back. That ideal involved the 
estabhshment of a rule over the bodies of men by force 
of arm's; he chose to do the will of God in establishing 
a rule over men's hearts by self-sacrifice and love. He 
still held to a messianic mission, but it was as a king of 
the spiritual and not the poHtical realm. He chose as 
his self -designation the term " Son of Man," a term that 
had been employed in a messianic sense in Enoch,* but 
which in the dialect employed in Galilee also means 
simply "man." In his teaching concerning the King- 
dom, Jesus taught that it is every man's privilege to 
come under the direct personal guidance of God. The 
Kingdom was no longer simply a monarchy with God as 
a far-off sovereign; it was a family, of which God is the 
loving Father. All men are brethren. The parable of 
the Prodigal Son gives us the heart of his message. In 
his person Jesus exhibited the ideal of one who enjoyed 
to the full personal relations with the Father. He was 
thus a fitting Messiah of the Kingdom which he pro- 
claimed. 

He chose twelve peasants to be his disciples and 
companions, and spent some fifteen months or a little 
more, traveling here and there in their company, preach- 

* For a fuller interpretation of the temptation, see G. A. Barton, 
The Heart of the Christian Message (New York, 1912), pp. 8-10. 
^ In Enoch 46:2, 4; 48:2. 



CHRISTIANITY 315 

ing and healing.^ Not until toward the end of this 
period did he disclose even to them that he claimed to 
be the Messiah, and even then they did not understand 
how his conception of messiahship differed from current 
Jewish conceptions. His imcompromising denunciaA 
tions of sham, his emphasis upon personal righteousness, I 
the light value that he set upon ceremonial, and his • 
popularity with the poor set the hierarchy against him, 
and they accompKshed his crucifixion about 28 or 29 a.d. 
On the third day after this his disciples were convinced 
by experiences that came to several of them that he was 
still alive; they were filled with joy, and formed a little 
group of Jews who held that the Messiah had come in 
the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Jesus himself wrote nothing. His matchless dis- 
courses and parables, in which he revealed the depth of 
his penetrating insight into the nature of man and God, 
were treasured in the memories of loving disciples. 
Perhaps memory was aided here and there by hastily 
made notes, but the Gospels were not written until later. 

217. The early Jewish church. — ^The little band of 
followers that Jesus left had no thought that loyalty to 
him demanded a separation from their fellow- Jews. 
They beheved that Jesus was the Messiah, but, in 
accordance with the messianic expectations* of some of 
their Jewish brethren, they believed that he had been 
caught up to heaven to be revealed in power at some 
future time. Christians differed from their Jewish 

' This is the chronology of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. As these 
were composed considerably earlier than John, they are generally thought 
to be more authoritative sources in matters of history. 

' Apoc. of Baruch 30: i. 



3i6 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

brethren simply in believing that Jesus of Nazareth 
was the Messiah, and that, when the Messiah was 
revealed, he would be their loved Master. In their 
thought of him and his Kingdom the spiritual con- 
ceptions which he had taught and which they had only 
half understood fell into the background. The current 
Jewish apocalyptic expectations took their place. 
Among Christians the Kingdom of God took on a 
wholly Jewish coloring. The Jewish belief in a Paradise 
for the righteous and a Gehenna for the wicked, which 
Jesus had confirmed, assumed the form given to it in the 
Jewish apocalypses. Christianity was for a time a Jewish 
sect. Its leaders punctiliously observed Jewish ritual.' 
218. Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was bom 
in Tarsus in Cilicia. His family appears to have settled 
there when the city was reconstructed by Antiochus 
Epiphanes in 171 B.C.,* and probably obtained Roman 
citizenship in the transition from the republic to the 
empire. Saul was sent to Jerusalem to be educated, 
and was trained by Gamaliel in the liberal wing of 
Pharisaism. Later he returned to Jerusalem to Hve. 
His logical mind led him to attempt to eradicate Chris- 
tianity as a curse to Judaism. He connected the 
crucifixion of Jesus with the statement in Deut. 21:23, 
that he that is hanged is cursed of God, and that the 
curse might spread to the land. In his view all who 
became Christians shared the curse of Jesus.^ Then he 

' See Acts 3 : i ff . 

'See W. M. Ramsay, The Cities of St. Paul (New York, 1908), 
pp. 180 fE. 

3 See Gal. 3:13 and its interpretation in Barton, The Heart of the 
Christian Message^ pp. 29 f. 



CHRISTIANITY 317 

had a vision which convinced him that Jesus had risen 
from the dead. His whole rabbinical education led 
him, in consequence of this, to regard Jesus as a man 
especially honored of God. God did not honor liars; 
Jesus must, accordingly, be the Messiah, as he had 
claimed. Paul thus became a Christian. Moreover, 
he recognized that Jesus occupied a place where, in spite 
of the ceremonial curse of the law, God bestowed his 
favor. Paul concluded, then, that all who identify 
themselves with Jesus shared this favor, even though 
they did not keep the Jewish law.' He accordingly 
became the Apostle to the Gentiles, and by a stormy 
ministry of more than thirty years broke the Jewish 
bonds. During this period there was evolution in Paul's 
thought. For a long time he continued to think of 
Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and to accept the Jewish 
apocalyptic* In time, however, contact with the world 
of Greek thought, and especially the necessity of com- 
bating incipient Gnosticism, led him to discard apoca- 
lyptic views, and to regard Jesus as the incarnation of 
the creative power by which God had made the world, 
and the World-Soul that holds all things together.^ 
This was the first step in that development of thought 
about Jesus that led to the formation of the Christian 
doctrine of the Trinity. 

Throughout his entire career Paul was a profound 
mystic. He held that the believer may be so filled 
with Christ — so united to him in fellowship — that he 
is one with Christ; what the believer does Christ 

'Barton, The Heart of the Christian Message, pp. 33 ff. 
«Cf. I Thess. 4:13 ff-; n Thess., chap. 2. 
5Cf. Col. 1:15-17. 



3i8 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

does.* Paul found Christianity a Jewish sect; he left it 
a reli^on universal in its scope. 

319. The Gospel of John was composed about 
100 A.D., probably at Ephesus in Asia Minor. The pur- 
pose of its author was so to tell the story of the Kf e and 
teaching of Jesus as to commend the Christian rehgion 
to the complex thought of his time. Gnosticism, 
incipient in the time of Paul, was now more thoroughly 
developed. At its base lay the late Zoroastrian con- 
ception of two gods, a god of good and a god of evil. 
Matter was the creation of the evil god. Judaism was 
by this time in open opposition to Christianity, and it 
was necessary to repulse its attacks. The disciples of 
John the Baptist still formed a separate sect that sought 
to rival Christianity. In the church itself there was a 
tendency to lay too great stress upon organization and 
the magic influence of the sacraments. In his endeavor 
to meet this situation the writer of the Gospel of John 
took up and elaborated Paul's idea of Jesus as the World- 
Soul. This he expressed by the term Logos, or Word — 
a term that had played a great role in Greek thought 
from Heraclitus^ down, and had also been prominent 
in Hebrew thought. Philo^ had made considerable use 
of it. Gnostic thought was squarely met by the state- 
ment that the Word was God,"* and that the Word 
became flesh and dwelt among us. This conception of 

* Cf. Barton, The Heart of the Christian Message, pp. 41-50- 

" See above, sec. 185. 

3 See above, sec. 95. 

<John 1:1. A more accurate translation of the Greek would be, 
"the Word was divine." It means that the Word belonged to the same 
order of being as God, not that he was identical with God. 



CHRISTIANITY 319 

Jesus as^the Word underlies the whole portrait of Jesus 
in this Gospel, although the term ^*Word" does not 
occur after the preface. Jesus is portrayed throughout 
as superhuman. His temptation is omitted. The 
dovelike descent of the Spirit occurred for the benefit of 
John the Baptist.' Jesus knew what was in man;^ at 
the grave of Lazarus he gave thanks to the Father, not 
to meet any need in himself, but for the sake of the 
people.^ Jesus is represented as proclaiming his mes- 
siahship at the beginning of his ministry to a perfect 
stranger,"* and as debatiag it publicly with the Jews on 
many occasions. 

In thus portraying Jesus the fundamental conception 
of Gnosticism was combated, and his discourses with 
the Jews were made the vehicle of combating the leaders 
of that religion. John the Baptist was made to bear 
witness to the superiority of Jesus and the conquering 
power of Christianity ,5 while, to meet the overemphasis 
on the Eucharist, all record that Jesus estabHshed such 
a rite was omitted. Instead of it the account of Jesus 
washing the disciples' feet was introduced in chapter 13, 
while in chapter 6, in a discourse on eating his flesh and 
drinking his blood, Jesus, we are told, declared that the 
flesh is of no profit, but that his words are spirit and life.^ 

In the Gospel the thesis is set forth that Christ is 
Jesus, and that the disciples may be one with him and 
with God. They are to be sent into the world as Christ 
was sent into the world.^ In the First Epistle of John, 

^ John 1 :33. s John i : 15; 3: 27-30. 

'John 2:25. ^ John 6:63. 

5 John 11:42. 'John 17:18. 
<John 1:48 f. 



320 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

in which his thesis is that Jesus is the Christ, the union 
of the believer with Christ is powerfully set forth. This 
writer gave Christianity its three best definitions of God, 
the metaphysical, the moral, and the religious. They 
are: "God is spirit";^ ''God is light";^ and "God is 
love."3 

220. Christianity in the second century was influenced 
by its conflict with Gnosticism and its contact with 
Greek culture. In this conflict it developed its episcopal 
form of government, its tendency to rely upon written 
creeds, and it placed the New Testament books on a 
par with those of the Old Testament. It also developed 
some writers of wide breadth of vision and culture, whose 
views of Christianity exhibit great philosophic insight. 
There were also reactions against these developments. 

(i) Gnosticism manifested itself in many sects in a 
great variety of forms. As Docetism it reduced all the 
facts in the life of Christ to illusions. In antagonizing 
it Ignatius of Antioch (112-115 a.d.) proposed the 
monarchic episcopate as the government of the church — 
a view that ultimately prevailed. Valentinus, Basilides, 
and Marcion, though they differed radically from one 
another in doctrine, referred to alleged apostolic writings 
in proof of their views. Marcion made a canon consist- 
ing of one gospel and ten epistles. By silent processes 
which we cannot now trace, a list of New Testament 
books was agreed upon by 170 a.d., as the Canon of 
Muratori"* bears witness. In combating Marcion the 
church at Rome adopted a baptismal formula about 

'John 4:24. * I John 1:5. a i John 4:8, 16. 

< See B. W. Bacon, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York, 
1900), pp. so ff. 



CHRISTIANITY 321 

150 A.D., which afterward grew into the symbol now 
called the Apostles' Creed. 

(2) The best fruits of the combination of Christianity 
and Greek culture appear in the Epistle to Diognetus 
and the writings of Clement of Alexandria. These men 
recognized that (jod had not made the Hebrew people 
his only channel of revelation; that Greek philosophy 
was also a vehicle by which his truth was transmitted. 
Clement held that God is immanent in his world; that 
man is akin to God; that sin has marred the divine 
image in man, but has not effaced it; that God has 
always been educating man; that Christ came to com- 
plete the education by revealing clearly to man's con- 
sciousness the God who has always been here. 

(3) Certain Jewish elements of Christianity with- 
stood all this advance and gradually separated from the 
church. Such were the Ebionites, the Nazarenes, and 
the Elkasites. They maintained that Christianity 
should be simply a reformed Judaism. Paul was the 
object of their especial dislike, and in the so-called 
Clementine Homilies, Recognitions, and Epitome Paul 
is roundly denounced under the name of Simon 
Magus. 

221. The Eastern church and the councils. — ^While 
the church rejected Gnosticism, it was profoundly 
affected by it. The idea that matter is inherently evil 
gradually permeated Eastern Christendom. As early as 
200 A.D. it began to drive men to the desert. Marriage 
was an indulgence of the flesh; life's ordinary occupa- 
tions were a snare to the soul. The common life of man 
was, they thought, beyond redemption. They would 
be free; they would save themselves from the wreck of 



322 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

the world. Little by little the number of anchorites 
increased. They were gradually organized into mon- 
asteries. 

The Eastern church was fond of definitions; it cast 
its faith in the terms of thought. During the third 
century two great schools of Christian thought and 
learning developed — one at Antioch and one at Alex- 
andria. At Antioch they taught that God dwells apart 
from his world; at Alexandria, that he interpenetrates it. 
At Antioch they held that the Son was created by the 
Father, not begotten of him; that he is not of the same 
substance as the Father, but only of Hke substance. 
About 318 A.D. Arius, a disciple of the school of Antioch, 
began to teach in Alexandria. His teachings seemed 
heretical to the Alexandrian Christians, and he was 
deposed. Immediately all the East was aflame. 

Constantine, who had become nominally Christian 
in 312 A.D., without, perhaps, clearly understanding the 
difference between Christ and Mithra, became sole 
master of the Roman Empire in 324. He desired to 
employ the church to bind together his empire, but 
found it rent by the Arian controversy. He accordingly 
summoned in 325 a.d. the Council of Nicaea, the first of 
the ecumenical councils. To it came bishops and others 
from many parts of the church, and after long deliberations 
it adopted the Nicene definition of the nature of the Son, 
declaring that he is of one substance with the Father. 
Although the Alexandrian view prevailed in the council, 
much of the church was Arian, and the controversy raged 
for fifty years. When it had about spent itself, Theodo- 
sius I called the First Council of Constantinople in 
381 A.D. It reaffirmed the Nicene declaration as to 



CHRISTIANITY 323 

the Son's nature, and declared that the Holy Spirit pro- 
ceeds from the Father. 

Early in the next century another controversy arose 
between the school of Antioch and that of Alexandria. 
The Antiochians held that Christ had two natures, a 
divine and a human; the Alexandrians, that, after 
the incarnation, the two natures became one divine 
nature. These last delighted to call Mary the Mother 
of God. The third ecumenical council, called by 
Theodosius II, met at Ephesus in 433 a.d. to settle this 
matter, but the difference of opinion ran so high that 
the council separated into two, each of which condemned 
the other. The Council of Chalcedon, in 451 a.d., 
sought to solve the difficulty by declaring that he 
possesses two natures, which, unmixed, unconverted, 
undivided, were combined into one person, but its 
definition satisfied neither of the extremes. The Mono- 
physites, who believed in one nature, separated from 
the church. These form the Egyptian (or Coptic), 
the Abyssinian, and the Armenian churches to the 
present time. The radical Dyophysites, who beHeved 
in two natures, also separated and formed what is 
known as the Nestorian church. For some centuries 
they flourished, spreading eastward to Turkestan and 
China, but have now dwindled to a small remnant in 
Persia. 

The main body of the Eastern church accepted the 
decree of Chalcedon and kept on its way. In 553 a.d. 
in the reign of Justinian at the Second Council of Con- 
stantinople, the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the 
real thinker of the Dyophysite party, were condemned. 
The Third Council of Constantinople was held in 



324 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

680 A.D., which, in logical sequence from the Council of 
Chalcedon, declared that Christ had two wills. The last 
of the ecumenical councils, the Second Council of Nicaea, 
in 787 A.D. sanctioned the use of pictures and images in 
churches. 

The act of this last council indicates to what extent 
the church had absorbed the customs of pre-Christian 
heathenism. Old gods were in many places christened 
as Christian saints, and their cults were maintained 
under a Christian name. By the year 800 A.D. the main 
lines of the Eastern church were fixed. 

222. The Western Church. — From the beginning the 
genius of the West was different from that of the East. 
The East was given to speculation and definition, the 
West to organization and administration. In the West 
practical problems absorbed men's minds; here the 
doctrines of tradition and the church were worked out. 
The doctrine of tradition had been stated in substance 
in the Pastoral Epistles, written probably from Rome 
before the end of the first century. In them the true 
faith is something committed to a disciple by an apostle, 
which the disciple is to guard and hand on to others.* 
This doctrine was revived at the end of the second 
century by Irenaeus,^ who held that the true doctrines 
of the church were left by the apostles as a "deposit'' 
with the bishops whom they appointed, and that these 
bishops had passed the ''deposit" on to their successors, 
withholding no part of it. Thus the true " deposit" was 
still to be found in the faith of the churches in the large 
cities, where any deviation from apostolic standards 

^ See I Tim. 6:20; II Tim. 1:13, 14; 2:2, 
' Cf. his work Against Heresies iii. 3. 



CHRISTIANITY 325 

would be quickly detected. This argument, he held, 
applied with especial force to the church at Rome, since 
Rome was the capital of the empire and any variation 
from the "deposit" at Rome would be detected more 
quickly than elsewhere. This argument concerning 
tradition was elaborated by Tertullian of Carthage, a 
younger contemporary of Irenaeus, and became the basis 
of the claim of Rome to the right to rule the church. 

C)^rian of Carthage developed the doctrine of the 
bishopric, as Irenaeus had that of tradition. He held 
that the bishop is the representative of Christ, and 
as such he possesses over his congregation the same 
authority that Christ has over the church universal. 
Christ was a priest; he offered himself in sacrifice. The 
bishop is a priest who at the celebration of the Eucharist 
repeats the sacrifice of his Lord. Christ can remit sins; 
hence his representative can remit sins. The views of 
Cyprian ultimately prevailed and transformed the 
Christian ministry into a priesthood. 

The foundations of the theology of Latin Christianity 
were completed by Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 A.D.). 
Augustine's thought was developed through three con- 
troversies, that with the Manichaeans, that with the 
Donatists, and that with the Pelagians. The Mani- 
chaeans denied that the church is the sole depositary of 
the truth; the Donatists, that the church has a right to 
rule the conscience; the Pelagians, that human nature 
needs such a church as the Western Fathers believed in. 
In the course of these controversies Augustine set forth 
the doctrine of original sin, holding that man has been 
completely separated from God. It was this that gave 
the church its reason for existence. The divine image 



326 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

can, he taught, be renewed in man only by the rite 
of baptism; in the act of baptism regeneration occurs, 
if it can occur at alL Christ had come to establish 
the church, and had gone away again to the distant 
heavens, leaving the church to rule. There was no 
salvation outside her, but not all within her will be 
saved, for salvation depends upon the will of God and 
is granted only to the elect. This was the form of 
Christian thought which ruled Western Europe for a 
thousand years. 

The personal piety of Augustine reflected in his 
''Confessions," the greatest religious autobiography ever 
written, is wonderfully attractive. 

223. The early Middle Ages formed a period of 
increasing ignorance. The coming of the barbarians 
gradually submerged the finer characteristics of the 
earlier time. In a rude way these barbarians were 
gradually Christianized, though many of their old beliefs 
and customs were continued under Christian names. 
By 800 A.D. the pope at Rome was able to assert his 
authority over the civil power, and the church became 
in name at least supreme. With the dechne of culture 
crude doctrines sprang up. One of these was the 
doctrine of purgatory. Until this time the almost 
universal beHef of antiquity, that the dead reside in a 
subterranean cavity, still prevailed. To this had been 
added the Jewish-Christian faith that before the Judg- 
ment Day the dead will be raised. Little by little it had 
come to be held that this period of waiting would be 
occupied with expiatory sufferings, and that whether 
these sufferings were to be long or short depended upon 
the will of the priesthood. 



CHRISTIANITY 327 

Another doctrine that emerged in this period was 
that of trans-substantiation — the doctrine that at the 
consecration of the elements of the Eucharist the bread 
and wine are miraculously transmuted into the body 
and blood of Christ. Alchemists at the time beHeved 
that lead could be transmuted into gold, if one could 
only find the secret, and theology traveled in the same 
path. 

224. The later Middle Ages began with the eleventh 
century. The second migration of the barbarians (the 
later Huns, Northmen, Danes, and Saracens) had 
caused extended suffering. This suffering, together 
with the widespread expectation that the end of the 
world would occur in the year 1000, sobered and deepened 
the life of Europe. After the year 1000 it was a more 
religious world; its happy, thoughtless childhood had 
passed. Gothic cathedrals began to express the aspira- 
tions and longings of the age. 

It soon became an age of intellectual activity. The 
leaders of this activity were the "schoolmen," who 
occupied themselves in justifying to the intellect the 
dogmas of the church. Anselm (1038-1109 A.D.), the 
first and greatest of the schoolmen, gave to the church 
its first worthy doctrine of the atonement. It had been 
held from the beginning that the death of Christ some- 
how accomplished the salvation of men, but how it 
accompHshed this had not been definitely explained. 
Some had taken Christ's figure of a ransom' literally, and 
held that God gave his Son to Satan in order to redeem 
men from his grasp. Anselm changed all this. He 
explained the death of Christ on the analogy of feudal 

'Matt. 20:28. 



328 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

law. Man owed God a fealty which he had failed to 
pay; the debt was infinite because God is infinite. 
Man could not pay the debt because he is finite. He 
was accordingly doomed to endless woe. But if man 
perished, God's love would be thwarted. The infinite 
Son of God accordingly became man, in order to die and 
satisfy God's honor. According to this view the sacrifice 
of Christ was a sacrifice of God's love to God's justice. 

Not all schoolmen were so considerate of the Latin 
church. Abelard was led to hold many of the views of 
the Greek theology, and became a martyr for his 
independence. With the dawning of new intelligence 
several sects sprang into existence, the adherents of 
which sought greater satisfaction for the soul than the 
church afforded. The church took alarm and in 1229 
closed the Bible to the laity, and in 1232 invented the 
inquisition to enforce the decision. Thomas Aquinas 
(1227-74) propounded a Httle later the doctrine of 
two kingdoms, the kingdom of nature and the kingdom 
of grace, which for a time gave the church an intellectual 
triumph also. According to this view nature is a kind 
of hierarchy, rising through the lower orders of Hfe to 
its culmination in man. Rising above this is the king- 
dom of grace, which has its outward embodiment in the 
church, and is continued by the angels in heaven. It 
culminates in the throne of God. In the kingdom of 
nature the thought of man was said to be free to act; in 
the kingdom of grace man must accept what God reveals. 

These measures and doctrines were not, however, 
permanently successful. In the fourteenth century 
Wycliffe (1324-84) translated the Bible into the ver- 
nacular for the people and preached an evangelical 



CHRISTIANITY 329 

doctrine. In Germany in the same century Eckhardt 
(d. 1329), Tauler (d. 1361), and Thomas a Kempis 
(1380-1471), while they remained in the church, taught 
the possibiHty of a direct imion with God, a view which 
was contrary to what had come to be regarded as 
fimdamental doctrines of the church. John Huss in 
Bohemia, an evangehcal preacher of the same type as 
Wycliffe, held to liberty of conscience, and died a 
martyr's death in 141 5. After the conquest of Con- 
stantinople by the Turks in 1453 niany Christians from 
the East fled to Italy. They brought with them the 
Greek Testament and a knowledge of classical learning, 
which created such a ferment that a new type of Chris- 
tianity was created. 

225. The Reformation was a declaration of the 
liberty of the individual conscience, and a shift of the 
basis of authority from the church to the Bible. While 
it presented great varieties of form, the forms which 
attracted most adherents did not differ radically from 
the Catholics as to the transcendence of God, the 
depravity of man, and a standard of authority external 
to the conscience. Luther (1483-1546), the first pro- 
tagonist of the Reformation, made much of the doctrine 
of justification by faith. He was not a consistent 
theologian. His system retained many features and 
conceptions of the church, while departing from it in 
other respects. Zwingli (1484-153 1) departed more 
widely from the Latin church in thought. He revived 
from another point of view Augustine's doctrine of 
election. John Calvin (1509-64) formed the most com- 
plete system of theology, giving to Protestantism its 
fighting armor. To him as to Augustine God was an 



330 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

absent sovereign. He differed from Augustine in finding 
the will of God expressed in the Bible rather than in the 
church. Menno, Schwenkfeld, Arminius, and others 
took positions that departed in many respects more 
widely than those of Luther and Calvin from the posi- 
tions previously occupied by the church. Many foimded 
sects or parties in Protestantism which continue to the 
present day. The period of the Reformation was the 
period of expanding knowledge, when our modern world 
was born. The religious impulse of the Reformation 
lasted through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
It produced many types of thought and of Christian 
organization, varying from the Anglican church, which 
retains the Episcopal organization, but discards five of 
the Roman sacraments, to that of the Friends or followers 
of George Fox (d. 1690), who dispensed both with an 
ordained ministry and with all outward sacraments. 
The most widely accepted theology was, however, that 
of John Calvin, in which man is regarded as a totally 
depraved being, whose sins were vicariously borne by 
Christ. Christ, however, did not, according to Calvin, 
redeem all of humanity, but the elect alone. 

In countries where the Reformation gained sufficient 
power, as in England and Scotland, a state church was 
substituted for the Roman church. 

226. The eighteenth century was one of religious 
reaction. This was in part due to the fact that the 
enthusiasm of the Reformation had spent itself, and in 
part to the trend given to philosophy by John Locke. 
According to this philosophy everything was to be 
tested by the understanding, and the effort to make 
religion not mysterious reduced it at times to a cold 



CHRISTIANITY 331 

intellectual system. This century saw, nevertheless, 
the evangelical revival inaugurated by John Wesley. 
This revival stood quite apart from the thought of the 
century in which it occurred. The philosophy of the 
time thought of God as far away; those who partici- 
pated in the Methodist revival held that he is near and 
that everyone can approach him. 

227. The nineteenth century was in many ways the 
most remarkable century since the first in the history of 
Christianity. Intellectually Christianity had to find 
itself in the midst of new systems of thought. The 
philosophies of Kant and Hegel were especially influ- 
ential with Christian thinkers. Never in the history of 
man had scientific knowledge been so rapidly acquired. 
Nearly all our sciences were bom in the nineteenth 
century. But along with new explanations of Christian 
theory, and in spite of doubts raised by new knowledge. 
Christian Hfe had never been more intense or more vital. 
With an enthusiasm unknown since the ApostoHc Age, 
efforts were undertaken to convert the world to Christ, 
and were successfully prosecuted. Though modern 
methods of studying history were applied to the Bible 
itseK — ^methods which revealed its history in aspects 
hitherto unsuspected — though the basis of faith was 
shown to be wider than was formerly thought, the 
adjustment was made in many quarters, and Christ 
appeared to his followers secure as Master in the realm 
of rehgion. 

In parts of Protestantism, but especially in the 
Church of Rome, there have been reactions. One of 
these led to the proclamation in 1870 of the dogma of 
the infallibility of the Pope. This was but natural. 



332 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

The Roman church stands for the mediaeval form of 
Christianity and is boimd to carry to a logical conclu- 
sion the principles that were formulated in the Middle 
Ages. 

228. Modem Christian thought in Protestantism is 
still endeavoring to adjust itself to the new intellectual 
universe called into being by modem science. The 
adjustment is not fully accomplished and there is, con- 
sequently, much variety. Certain tendencies may be 
noted. Gk)d is now conceived as the Infinite Soul of a 
universe that surpasses the limits of human imagination. 
He is still defined as Spirit, Light, and Love. He 
dwells, not apart from the universe, but interpenetrates 
it. Man has ^'felt after" God in all the religions of the 
world. God has been manifest in the religious experi- 
ence of all peoples. The great religious teachers, Amos, 
Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zoroaster, Gautama, Lao-tze, 
Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Mohammed, have each in 
their degree grasped more than their feUows of truth 
about God or life, and have helped men to larger knowl- 
edge or larger experience of God, or to both. Jesus is 
the greatest of all teachers. He knew so much more 
of God and truth and the soul than they that he stands 
supreme in the religious sphere. None has revealed 
God as he did. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity 
is seen by many to stand for a truth, the eternally social 
nature of God — that nature which makes it possible for 
God to be eternally knowing and eternally loving. It is 
in this fundamentally social nature of Gk)d that there is 
found a basis of faith for the realization of the social 
aspirations of man for a perfect social state — the 
Kingdom of God. 



CHRISTIANITY 333 

For a time the doctrine of evolution seemed to 
destroy the ancient doctrine of the fall of man into sin. 
It now appears that the third chapter of Genesis and 
the stories of a Golden Age are human recollections of 
the way the world of man's innocence seemed to him to 
be destroyed, when his brain had developed to such a 
degree that he could imagine how his acts affected 
others, and conscience was bom. It was then that sin 
began. The suffering of the good for the bad, espe- 
cially the suffering of the Christ, is thought to be the 
divinely appointed means of awakening, in accordance 
with psychological laws, the spirit of man to recognize 
his sin, the goodness of God, and his own possibilities. 
Righteousness is conceived to be the highest ethical life 
lived in companionship with God by one who is doing 
God's will in the world — ^who is seeking to estabhsh 
God's Kingdom of peace and righteousness. Such a 
religion has in it the capabiHties of satisfying the 
aspirations of the most cultured, and of becoming 
universal. 

229. Summary. — ^There are three main divisions of 
Christendom: the Eastern churches, the Roman church, 
and Protestantism. The Eastern churches crystallized 
at the beginning of the Middle Ages and have since 
contributed Kttle to Christian progress. The Roman 
church crystalKzed at the end of the Middle Ages and 
adjusts itself to modern progress with the greatest 
difficulty. Protestantism presents the greatest variety. 
Some sections of it have not passed beyond the semi- 
mediaeval point of view of the early Reformers, while 
other sections of it have welcomed the new knowledge 
and in its light see Hght. To these last the great rehgious 



334 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

truths seem more beautiful and more fundamental 
than ever. 

Of all the rehgions we have studied three aim at 
universahty — Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and Chris- 
tianity. Without disparaging or underestimating either 
of the others, it must be said that in spite of all the 
un-Christian things that have marred its history, and 
its failure to reaKze its ideals in life, the best hope of the 
world Hes in the possibiHty that Christianity may come 
to have universal influence. This is because the 
Christian conception of God is capable of becoming 
adequate to the needs of man's expanding knowledge 
of the universe, while it satisfies the highest personal 
and social aspirations of man; it is also because the 
ethical standards of Jesus, combined with the Christian 
conception of God, afford the best basis for a universal 
brotherhood; and also because it was the aim of Jesus 
to make the whole world such a brotherhood — one 
family. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

CLASS A 

On sec. 199: Cf. Burton and Mathews, The Life oj Christ 

(Chicago, 1901). 
On sec. 200: B. W. Robinson, The Life of Paid (Chicago, in 

preparation). 
On sees. 201-210: G. B. Smith, editor, A Guide to the Study of 

the Christian Religion (Chicago, 1916). 
On sec. 211: G. A. Barton, The Heart of the Christian Message^ 

2d ed. (New York, 191 2), chap. viii. 

CLASS B 

G. A. Barton, The Heart of the Christian Message, 2d ed. (New 
York, 191 2). 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD IN THE 
RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

230. God revealing himself. — There are people to 
whom home never appears at its real value until they 
have traveled abroad. In religious matters we are all 
somewhat provincial. We come back, if we are wise, 
from a world-wide survey of religion with a new appre- 
ciation of the ''depths of the riches" of our Christian 
faith. One cannot, as our ancestors used to do, regard 
the non-Christian religions as works of the devil. If 
God is good he has been seeking to impart to all men a 
knowledge of himself ever since man was man. Just 
as the success of a teacher depends in part upon the 
degree of mental abihty possessed by his pupils, so 
the success of the Great Teacher has depended upon the 
mental, ethical, and spiritual powers of the races of men. 
In the process of the evolution of the human race these 
powers have unfolded gradually. They have varied 
with cHmate, environment, and the progress of civiliza- 
tion. Viewed from the himian side we may rightly 
speak of the evolution of the idea of God. Viewed 
from the divine side we may speak of the progress of 
revelation. The two ways of speaking are not contradic- 
tory. He who speaks from the human standpoint does 
not necessarily deny the theological standpoint; he 
who speaks from the theological, does not, if wise, deny 
the himian facts. In reahty, what man discovers is 

335 



336 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

identical with what God reveals. Always God would 
reveal more if human weakness and ignorance could 
grasp it. 

The study of the religions of the world is, then, a 
study of the processes by which God has revealed himself. 
It may be wise before laying aside our study to recapitu- 
late some of the facts of the process of this revelation or 
evolution and to attempt to classify them. It will help 
us to a new appreciation of Christianity. 

In every study of this kind it is necessary to guard 
against a pit into which many crude thinkers fall. We 
must not make the mistake of thinking that because 
we can trace an idea or an institution to a humble 
origin we have thereby discredited it. Not its origin, 
but the present truth and function of an idea, are 
the test of its value. Science leads us to believe that 
man was created by evolution from a lower order of life. 
At first this seemed to degrade man, but in reaHty it 
has done nothing of the sort. Whatever his origin, 
man, with all his powers and possibilities, is what he is. 
In reality the scientific view has placed man in a new 
position of honor and dignity. Similarly it seems to 
some that to know that Yahweh was once the tribal 
god of an obscure Semitic tribe, hardly distinguishable 
from any other Semitic deity of that time, forever dis- 
credits "supernatural" religion. In reaHty it only helps 
us to disentangle from the conceptions that have come 
down to us that which is "of the earth earthy," and to 
help that which is really supernatural to stand out in 
all its beauty and power. 

231. Primitive conceptions of God. — Savage men — 
and all men were once savages — ^have no unified con- 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 337 

ception of the world of spirits. Each one of them is 
conscious that he has a spirit, and he supposes that every 
bush, crag, rock, hill, mountain, stream, star, as well 
as the sun, moon, and wind, have similar spirits. These 
are beheved to be more powerful than man — they can 
help him in time of need, if they will — but no one of them 
is omnipotent. Man attributes to these all his own 
passions. They are jealous, bloodthirsty, revengeful, 
quarrelsome, and savage. The words of Genesis tell us 
that "God made man in his own image"; all savage 
men make their gods in their own image. It is this that 
gives to the savage religions their revolting cruelty 
and in some instances bestiahty. It has sometimes 
happened that primitive savage notions of the gods 
survive into periods of high culture. Many are familiar 
with the ethics fostered by the primitive Semitic mother- 
goddess,^ and how they survived far down into historical 
times in all the Semitic nations of antiquity. Every 
reader of the Old Testament remembers how strenu- 
ously the Hebrew prophets were compelled to denounce 
the abominations of Ashtoreth. One marvels as he 
looks back that they succeeded in leading the people 
to firm faith in a God of purer ethics. A similar instance 
of savage survival is found in the case of the Vedic god 
Indra. The Hindus of the Vedic period were exceed- 
ingly fond of intoxicating Soma. Under its influence 
they forgot the painful past and the hard present. 
They felt that they were themselves gods. In time 
Soma was worshiped as a god. He was thought to give 
the other gods their immortality. Just as he exalted 
the spirits of men, so he did the spirits of gods. Thus 
* See supra, pp. 9 and 61-67. 



338 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

it comes about that hymn 119 of Book X of the Rig- 
Veda is, as generally understood, an utterance of the 
god Indra when intoxicated!^ Indra was the blusterer 
among their gods, but here he outdoes himself. He has 
all the exaltation and loquacity of the drunkard at a 
certain point of his exaltation. It is the earHest known 
attempt in literature to embalm in immortal verse the 
boastful babblings of a drunkard — and all this is told 
of a god of the famed and vaunted Veda ! 

Savage kings sometimes in their successes exalted 
themselves not only over men but over the gods. A 
classic instance of this, already noted in chapter iii, is 
found in the oldest reHgious text that has come down 
to us from Egypt. The text was inscribed on the walls 
of the tomb of Unis, the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, 
who ruled about 2655-2625 B.C. One will recognize 
in the following quotation a number of savage and even 
cannibalistic traits, in addition to some peculiar concep- 
tions of the relation of a man to his gods: 

King Unis is the one who eats men and lives on gods, 

Lord of the messengers, who dispatches his messages; 

It is the " Grasper-of -Forelocks " living in Kehew 

Who binds them for king Unis. 

It is the serpent "Splendid Head" 

Who watches them for him and repels them for him. 

It is "He-who-is-upon-the-Willows" 

Who lassoes them for him. 

It is "Punisher-of -all-Evil-doers" 

Who stabs them for king Unis. 

He takes out for him their entrails, 

He is the messenger whom he (king Unis) sends to punish. 

Shemsu cuts them up for king Unis 

' See supra, p. 145. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF CK)B 339 

And cooks for him a portion of them 

As his evening meal. 

• ••• •••••••• 

He has taken the hearts of the gods; 

He has eaten the Red, 

He has swallowed the Green. 

King Unis is nourished on satisfied organs, 

He is satisfied, living on their hearts and their charms. 

Their charms are in his belly. 

The dignities of king Unis are not taken away from him; 

He hath swallowed the knowledge of every god. 

Lo their (the gods') soul is in the belly of king Unis, 

Their glorious ones are with king Unis. 

The plenty of his portion is more than that of the gods. 

Lo their soul is with king Unis.' 

When a king is superior to the gods, can send his 
messengers to capture them, can have his attendants 
cut them up and cook them for his evening meal, and 
thus by a kind of cannibalistic^ communion store away 
in his person their superior charms as an addition to his 
own, it is clear that the conception of the gods held by 
his people is not very exalted. Faith in such gods can 
give birth to no lofty religion. If noble ethics develop 
among such a people, as actually happened in ancient 
Egypt, they develop in spite of religion. 

^ From Breasted, A Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 
Egypt, pp. 128 ff. 

* Archaeological evidence of Egyptian cannibalism has been found 
in Egypt; cf. W. M. F. Petrie and J. E. Quibell, Naqada and Balas 
(London, 1896), p. 32, and Petrie, Wainwright, and Mackay, The 
Labyrinth, Girzeh and Mazghuneh (London, 1912), pp. 8-15. The 
authors call it a "ritualistic" dismemberment, but ritualism had its 
origin in this case in a reality. 



340 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

This Egyptian view of the gods is not unique. One 
finds it everywhere in antiquity, if one searches far 
enough. Thus in the best known of the Babylonian 
accounts of the Flood, in the part that describes the 
great flood-producing storm, we read: 

The gods were frightened at the deluge, 

They fled, they climbed to the highest heaven; 

The gods crouched hke dogs, they lay down by the walls. 

Fine, brave gods these! They were "touched with a 
feeling of human infirmity" but were of little use in an 
emergency like the deluge. These gods too were 
dependent on men. While the flood lasted no sacri- 
fices were offered, and the gods became hungry. When 
the deluge subsided and the Babylonian Noah, once 
more on dry land, offered sacrifice we read: 

The gods smelled the savor, 

The gods smelled the sweet savor, 

The gods about the sacrificer collected like flies. 

Among the early Romans and Japanese the gods 
were but vaguely defined spirits. We would hardly 
call them gods at all. In the earliest Roman religion 
Jupiter scarcely appears at all. Instead various spirits 
of the household and the farm were worshiped. The 
Genius of the man, the Juno of the woman (the powers 
of procreation and conception), Vesta, the spirit of 
the hearth. Penes, the spirit of the storehouse. Lares, the 
spirit of the fields, together with many spirits of the 
flocks, herds, grains, fruits, etc., were the objects of their 
worship. Their personality was but ill defined. Vesta 
was the hearth and more than the hearth; Penes was 
the storehouse and more than the storehouse; and so 
with the others. This stern, practical, warlike people, 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 341 

that afterward conquered the world, had little imagina- 
tion for the divine. It worshiped the spirits that were 
supposed to aid in practical living, but its conception 
of these was most vague/ 

The Japanese, like the Romans, possess many prac- 
tical characteristics. They also resemble the Romans 
in their vague conceptions of the divine. The Japanese 
language has no real word for God. The word generally 
employed, Kami, means something wonderful, awe- 
inspiring. It designates something between superman 
and superhuman being. Foxes, trees, mountains, rivers, 
volcanoes, the sun, flowers, and fruits were all Kami. 
When, under the stimulus of the Confucian philosophy, 
the primitive behefs and myths of Japan were shaped 
into a loose system in support of the reigning dynasty, 
a system known as Shinto, or the way of the gods, this 
tendency to call everything wonderful Kami and to 
give it a sort of reverence was continued. Notable 
men, ancestors, benefactors, and heroes have been added 
to the Kst of Kami or gods. 

These ancient conceptions of gods and spirits find 
their parallels, with many variations, among the savages 
of Africa, Australasia, and Polynesia today. From such 
humble origins all later conceptions of God have devel- 
oped. From such beginnings one can trace the evolu- 
tion of four different types of conception of deity. 

232. Pantheism. — The first of these is a kind of 
philosophic monism or pantheism. This developed in 
the latest stratum of the Vedic Kterature, the Upan- 
ishads, written between 800 and 500 B.C. According 
to this view the universe is composed of one supreme 

^ See supra, pp. 266 f . 



342 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

impersonal substance, variously called ^/waw, "breath/' 
and Brahma or Brahman, "holy thought."' Atman, 
or breath, like the Semitic nephesh, also meant "soul" 
or "self." This supreme impersonal substance was in 
time conceived as the supreme self. Individuals were 
but partial manifestations of the universal Atman, just 
as every part of the universe was also an expression 
of IT. It was a pantheism 2,500 years before Spinoza. 
All that is is Brahman or Atman. 

However impossible it may seem that such a view 
could inspire ethical enthusiasm or religious devotion, 
yet some passages of the Upanishads set forth the lofty 
ideal that every act should be performed for the self 
and gains its value only as this is done. Thus we 
read: 

Verily a husband is not dear, that you may love a husband; 
but that you may love the SeK, therefore the husband is dear. 

Verily a wife is not dear, that you may love the wife; but 
that you may love the Self, therefore the wife is dear. 

Verily sons are not dear, that you may love the sons; but that 
you may love the Self, therefore sons are dear. 

Verily wealth is not dear, that you may love wealth; but that 
you may love the Self, therefore the wealth is dear. 

Verily cattle are not dear, that you may love cattle; but 
that you may love the Self, therefore cattle are dear. 



Verily the worlds are not dear, that you may love the worlds; 
but that you may love the Self, therefore the worlds are dear. 

Verily the gods are not dear, that you may love the gods; but 
that you should love the Self, therefore the gods are dear. 

Verily the Vedas are not dear, that you may love the Vedas; 
but that you may love the Self, therefore the Vedas are dear. 

» See supra, p. 155. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 343 

Verily creatures are not dear, that you may love creatures; 
but that you should love the Self, therefore creatures are dear. 

Verily everything is not dear, that you may love everything; 
but that you may love the SeK, therefore everything is dear. 

Verily the SeK is to be seen, to be heard, to be perceived, to 
be marked, O Maitreyi! When the Self has been seen, heard, 
perceived and known, then all this is known.^ 

Much more of a similar strain follows. It is an expres- 
sion of a lofty philosophico-religious ideal — to value 
the part for the whole, and to love the universal self. 
It never led, however, to the redemption of any great 
part of Indian Hfe. It was too intangible, and it con- 
tained the seeds of pessimism. According to this 
doctrine man is but an evanescent bubble on the surface 
of the Infinite Self. The Upanishads were introduced 
into Persia in the early centuries of the Christian era. 
Omar Khayyam was steeped in their philosophy. Their 
legitimate fruit may be studied in his charming, but 
hopeless, poems. It will be noted that, in the passage 
from the Upanishads just quoted, the existence of the 
old gods is not denied. They are taken for granted as 
a part of the world, but, like men and cattle, are regarded 
as partial expressions of the Infinite Self. 

233. Gods caught in the meshes of the universe. — 
According to a second evolution from the primitive type 
of thought the gods or spirits remained as they had 
origiaally been conceived, and the conception of the 
universe was enlarged so that the gods, like men, were 
thought to be entangled in its meshes, and men ceased 
to look to the gods for their salvation. At least five 
systems of religious thought, two in India and three in 
China, came into existence in consequence of this 

' The Sacred Books of the East, XV, 182 ff. 



344 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

general view of the universe and the gods. In the 
Indian systems the gods ceased to be worshiped; in 
the Chinese a sort of secondary reverence was still paid 
to them; but in both countries, in the systems referred 
to, something else than the gods took the chief place 
in human thought. As many millions (at least a third 
of the population of the globe) profess religions today 
that were born from this conception of the divine as 
profess Christianity. 

The monistic philosophy of the Upanishads was not 
the only one that had grown up in India before the year 
500 B.C. There was another, called later the Sankhya 
system,^ according to which the universe was dualistic. 
On the one side was the primary substance, matter, 
eternally active, productive, the source and seat of all 
change. On the other an infinite number of individual 
souls. These souls were caught in the meshes of the 
material universe. To this philosophy the doctrine 
of transmigration was added. Death brought no release 
from the pain of material enmeshment. It was begun 
again in a rebirth. Indeed, the doctrine of transmigra- 
tion was by this time common to all India, and not the 
property of any one philosophy. Along with these 
conceptions the doctrine of karma ^ or the ''deed," had 
been accepted, according to which one's next migration 
depended upon his conduct. If one acted like a pig he 
would be born next time as a pig. If he acted like a 
Brahmin (the highest caste) he might be born into that 
caste next time. This was the state of Indian thought 
when, about 567 B.C., Gautama, afterward called the 
Buddha, or the ''Enlightened," was born. 

^See supra, p. 181. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 345 

(i) The first of the five religions that accepted our 
second conception of the gods is Buddhism. Gautama 
held to the Sankhya or dualistic philosophy. To him 
the gods were simply spirits caught like men in the 
meshes of the material universe. Gautama did not, 
therefore, appeal to the gods for help. His theory of 
salvation — that which came to him at the time of his 
illumination — ^was simply a system of ethical culture. 
As the basis of the theory were the Four Noble Truths : 
(a) All that exists is subject to suffering, (b) The origin 
of suffering is human desires, (c) The cessation of 
desires releases from suffering, (d) The path that leads 
to the cessation of existence and accordingly to the cessa- 
tion of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path. This 
Eightfold Path, which constituted the fourth of the 
noble truths, consisted of right views (free from 
superstition or delusion), right aspirations (high and 
worthy of an intelligent man), right speech (kindly, 
open, truthful), right conduct (peaceful, honest, pure), 
right HveKhood (bringing hurt or danger to no living 
thing), right effort (in self -training and self-control), 
right mindfulness (the active, watchful mind), right 
rapture (in deep meditation on the reahties of life).^ 

Three of the truths are philosophical assumptions. 
The fourth is an ethical path out of the pain of existence. 
He who followed it attained Arahatship — a kind of 
consciousless, passionless, pure character — and so passed 
into Nirvana and escaped the burdens of existence. 
He did not become a saved soul, for Gautama did not 
believe in an immortal soul. The soul was, in his view, 
only a bundle composed of desires, as a chariot is 

^ See supra, pp. 158, 163, and 164, 



346 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

composed of wheels, axle, pole, etc. Take these away 
and there is no chariot. So take away desires that cause 
suffering, and there is no soul. So reasoned the Buddha. 
Here was, and for our present purpose is, the important 
point, a way of salvation that had no use for gods, or God. 

(2) Almost contemporary with Gautama (perhaps 
even a little earlier) there lived another Indian prophet, 
Vardhamana, more often called Mahavira, the great 
hero. Like Gautama, he accepted the doctrine that 
the gods were helpless spirits caught in the network and 
pain of the universe. He too held the doctrine of 
transmigration and the behef that matter and soul are 
distinct. Like Gautama, he sought a way of release 
from the agony of material existence. Gautama at 
the beginning of his search had, like many of his country- 
men before him, tried asceticism but had given it up 
in despair, when, having reduced his physical strength 
almost to zero, he found himself no better. Mahavira, 
on the other hand, pursued the ascetic path for twelve 
years, when he announced himself the Jain, or the 
''victorious." As Gautama became the apostle of 
enlightenment and of ethical culture, so Mahavira 
became the apostle of victory by means of asceticism. 
He founded the Jain sect, which still persists in India.^ 
Like Buddhism, it is a system of salvation by human 
effort. Had Mahavira spoken in bibhcal phrase, he 
would have sung: 

Mine own right arm hath gotten me the victory. 

(3) Passing to China, while we find the same general 
conceptions of spirits and gods, we find quite a different 

^St^supTGy pp. 175 f. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 347 

development. The oldest books of the empire teach 
that the universe consists of two souls or breaths, Yang 
and Yin. Yang represents light, warmth, produc- 
tivity, Hfe; Yin, darkness, cold, death. The Yang is 
subdivided into an indefinite number of good souls called 
Shen; Yin into an indefinite number of demons and 
specters called Kwei. The world is full of these spirits, 
especially of Kwei. Man himself has in him a shen that 
accounts for his good qualities and a kwei that accounts 
for his bad. Behef in a multipHcity of spirits has per- 
sisted through all the centuries of Chinese civilization 
to the present day.^ Sometimes even Christian mis- 
sionaries to China catch the belief in demons. 

In the Chinese state religion as represented in the 
Chinese classics, which were old even in the days of 
Confucius, 500 B.C., the worship of the emperor is 
centered mainly, though not exclusively, upon Heaven 
and Earth. Sacrifices are also offered to certain hills 
and rivers. To this day Heaven is worshiped at the 
winter solstice in a sacred park south of Pekin, and 
the Earth at the summer solstice in a sacred park to the 
north of the city. Heaven and Earth are thus regarded 
as the chief objects of worship. Other spirits are 
appealed to, but in this system it is implied, though 
perhaps not fully thought out, that the other gods are 
inferior to the great material universe. The system 
simply betrays a tendency. 

(4) This tendency is seen at its maximum in Taoism, 
founded by China's earhest sage, Lao-tze, bom about 
600 B.C. To him the great thing in the universe was 
Tao, a word that may be variously translated "way," 

' See supra, p. 204. 



348 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

"road," "path," "nature," "power," etc. Probably 
on the lips of Lao-tze, Tao meant "the way the universe 
goes," or "nature." To come into harmony with the 
Way was, according to him, salvation. Like the early 
Christians, he was an apostle of "the Way." He did 
not make his chief appeal to gods or spirits. Nature 
was superior to them. To come into harmony with the 
Tao was the supreme aim. He sought to accomplish 
this by a kind of mystic quietism. Here are some of 
his sayings:^ 

The Tao that can be taoed is not the enduring and 
unchanging Tao (or. The way that can be walked is 
not the enduring and unchanging way). Again: 

The grandest forms of active force 

From Tao come, their only source. 

Who can of Tao the nature tell ? 

Our sight it flies, our touch as weU. 

Eluding sight, eluding touch. 

The forms of things all in it crouch; 

Eluding touch, eluding sight, 

There are their semblances aU right. 

Profound it is, dark and obscure; 

Things' essences all there endure. 

Those essences the truth enfold 

Of what, when seen, shall then be told. 

Now it is so; 'twas so of old. 

Its name — ^what passes not away; 

So in their beautiful array, 

Things form and never know decay. 

Again: "How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would 
ever so continue! I do not know whose son it is. It 
might appear to have been before Shang-ti." 

^From the Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXIX; cf. supra, 
214!. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 349 

Shang-ti is the chief of the Chinese spirits. Legge 
translates the term "God." When Lao-tze says that 
the Tao might have been before Shang-ti he expresses 
the thought that nature is at least coeval with, if not 
superior to, gods and spirits. 

(5) The fifth system of thought that grew up from 
the conception of the divine that we are considering 
was Confucianism. Confucius was a younger con- 
temporary of Lao-tze, was born 551, and died 478 B.C. 
Confucius was not an originator of new systems of 
thought, nor a religious reformer. He was rather a 
practical systematizer of the conduct of hfe. That his 
system has become a sort of religion in China is one 
of the curious developments of the Chinese national 
genius. Confucius venerated the past, and built on 
the foundation of the state religion; consequently, for 
him also, Heaven and Earth were superior to gods and 
spirits. 

234. God a philosophic Absolute. — ^A third funda- 
mental conception of the divine grew out of northern 
Buddhism, called Mahayana Buddhism, or Buddhism 
of the Great Vehicle, because its sacred books or Bible 
contain so much more than those of southern Buddhism, 
which is called Hinayana Buddhism, or Buddhism of 
the Little Vehicle. Northern Buddhism developed 
largely outside of India in Nepal, Thibet, China, and 
Japan. While in India the Buddha came in a Httle 
while to be worshiped as an incarnation of the super- 
natural, the whole system of thought remained toler- 
ably near that of the founder. In northern Buddhism, 
however, behef in a wonderful system of pre-existent 
Buddhas and Bodhisattwas soon arose. According to 



350 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

one of these systems, which flourished in China and 
Japan, all things are comprehended in a Being who is 
a kind of philosophical Absolute. He is in all things 
and comprehends them all. He cannot be set forth 
in words but has been incarnated in successive Buddhas. 
In this system Gautama occupies a subordinate place. 
There have been many Buddhas. Salvation according 
to this system consists in first attaining Buddhahood, 
and then in being absorbed in the Absolute. 

235. Monotheism. — From these developments, the 
first and third of which are coldly philosophical, and the 
second theologically abortive, one turns with satisfac- 
tion to monotheism. Of the four monotheistic religions, 
the monotheism of Judaism and Zoroastrianism was 
separately and independently developed; that of 
Christianity and Mohammedanism was derived from 
Judaism. 

236. Jewish monotheism. — Monotheism made its 
appearance as a permanent force in history in the teach- 
ings of the Hebrew prophets in the eighth century B.C.' 
The earlier attempt of Amenophis IV of Egypt to estab- 
hsh the worship of one god came to nothing. His was 
not a spiritual monotheism. His one god was the physi- 
cal sun-disk. The Yahweh, whom Amos, Hosea, and 
Isaiah proclaimed as the one God, developed though 

* About the eighth century B.C. the mind of man began to be 
sufficiently developed to grasp spiritual religious ideas. During the 
next four hundred years, from China to Greece, men moved away from 
inherited conceptions toward positive and spiritual views. The Hebrew 
prophets, the authors of the Upanishads, Zoroaster, Gautama, Lao-tze, 
Confucius, Socrates, and Plato all lived during this period. Such a 
world-wide movement of great minds away from the material toward 
the spiritual is indicative of the beginnings of spiritual adolescence in 
the human race. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 351 

he was out of an earlier national and tribal god, was 
nevertheless to these prophets primarily spiritual and 
ethical. He was chiefly interested in the social welfare 
of his people; he demanded justice between man and 
man. The best sacrifice one could offer to him was "to 
do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly." He 
was to his people as a loving husband. He was a God 
who was near at hand, who communed freely with his 
people. " Surely Yahweh-God will do nothing, except he 
reveal his secret to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). 

Through the adoption of the Deuteronomic law, the 
ministry of Ezekiel, and the adoption of the priestly 
law, the religion of the prophets was transformed into 
Judaism. The monotheism of the prophets was retained, 
but the nearness of Yahweh was lost. God became 
transcendent. The Judaism of Palestine developed in 
time the deism that characterizes Judaism through most 
of its history. The Judaism of the Dispersion, especially 
Alexandrian Judaism in the person of Philo, developed a 
philosophical conception of God and his Logos (i.e., 
Reason or Word), through which God reveals himself 
in the world. This view was taken up later by Chris- 
tianity in a modified form, and, perhaps largely because 
of this, it ceased to be fostered by Judaism. The 
legaKstic, deistic conceptions of Pharisaism prevailed, 
and Judaism became what it has been through the 
centuries — a national religion, incapable of reaching 
to any considerable degree beyond its racial boundaries, 
ethical without emotion, devoted to monotheism with- 
out passion. Its God has been the one God, but he has 
been cold and far away.^ 

^ See supra, chap. v. 



352 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

237. Zoroastrian monotheism. — Zarathustra, or Zoro- 
aster, the Prophet of Persia, was a contemporary of the 
prophet Jeremiah. He is believed to have died in the 
year 583 B.C. at the age of seventy-seven years. His 
genuine teaching is presented in a body of psalms known 
as the Gathas. To these Gathas there are added some 
centuries later the Yasts and the Vendidad, the cere- 
monial books of Zoroastrianism. These are the Book 
of Leviticus of that religion, and bear about the same 
relation to the teachings of Zoroaster as the Book of 
Leviticus does to the teachings of Hosea. Later still 
by a thousand years or more is the Bundahishn, which 
bears about the same relation to the earher Hterature 
that the Talmud does to the Old Testament, or the 
Patristic Hterature to the New. 

From the Gathas and Assyrian sources we learn 
that Zoroaster did for a Persian god named Mazda, 
called Ahura Mazda, or '^Lord Mazda," what Amos 
did for Yahweh. He Ufted him out of his local environ- 
ment and made him the God of the world. Zoroaster 
was a pure monotheist. In his thought Ahura Mazda 
is everything. He scarcely mentions the prince of evil, 
Angra Maynu, later called Ahriman. It was only in 
the later literature that Ahriman became a god coequal 
with Ahura Mazda who almost successfully contests 
the sovereignty of the world with him. The develop- 
ment of Zoroastrianism is paralleled in this respect by 
some sections of Christianity, where Satan is regarded 
as almost as powerful as God. 

To return to Zoroaster, he was a pure monotheist, 
earnest, ethical, practical. As compared with Hebrew 
prophets his thought was abstract and at times vague. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 353 

•He personifies '^Good Thought," "Perfect Righteous- 
ness," "Health" or "Salvation," "Immortahty," and 
"Bad Thought" until they are subordinate supernatural 
beings. As one reads him he is strongly reminded of 
the vocabulary of Christian Science/ 

Perhaps it was because of this abstractness that 
Zoroastrianism did not succeed until King Vishtaspa 
was converted and began to propagate it with the 
sword. At all events there is in the use of the sword 
something of a parallelism between Zoroastrianism and 
Islam. 

For some reason the monotheism of Zoroaster never 
won many converts outside of Persia. It took up into 
itself after the prophet's death many heathen elements, 
but so did the religion of the prophets in becoming 
Judaism, and so did Christianity. Nevertheless, as in 
Judaism, the bonds of race held it. Once the rehgion 
of a mighty people, Zoroastrianism holds today the 
devotion of but some 100,000 descendants of the old 
Persians, of whom about 90,000 are resident in India. 

238. Mohammedan monotheism. — Mohammedan- 
ism derived its monotheism from Judaism. It was the 
stories of Abraham and the patriarchs, orally heard and 
imperfectly understood, that shaped Mohammed's con- 
ception of God. Islam yields to no religion in the world 
in its emphasis upon the divine unity and its intolerance 
of the worship of anything other than the One God. The 
God of Islam out-deists deism. He is remote. He is 
absolute, incomprehensible, exalted. He is said to be 
merciful and compassionate, but his mercy is extended 
only to believers; for unbelievers he has only the literal 

* See supra, chap. vii. 



354 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

fires of a very material hell. He is without real love. 
The three or four passages in the Koran which speak of 
the love of Allah refer, as the context shows, to his 
approval of certain kinds of conduct and of men. Like 
Yahweh, Allah is once called "holy," but his holiness 
is a freedom from the violation of taboos rather than the 
possession of ethical perfections. Allah, according to 
the Koran, is crafty; he can outwit tricky men in plot- 
ting. He was an ideal Arab of the seventh century 
made infinite. 

Perhaps the dominant characteristic of the Moham- 
medan conception of God is his absolute rule of the 
world. So absolute is this rule believed to be that he is 
declared to be the author of evil as well as of good. In 
this respect Mohammed but perpetuated and emphasized 
a phase of the conceptions held by the Hebrew prophets 
concerning Yahweh. 

This God, the Mohammedan believes, rules the world 
like an oriental despot. He demands of his followers an 
ethic of the rude sort that Arabia had reached in the 
seventh century a.d. Islam means " to submit." Islam 
is the religion of submission to the will of God. His 
will rules the world as blind fate. He demands no 
sacrifice; he asks no atonement for sin. AU men can 
do is to throw themselves on the divine mercy and trust 
Allah. True, Allah promises paradise to those who 
believe and to those who die fighting for Islam. 

Like a wise despot he rewards those who advance the 
limits of his dominions. 

While it is true that the Shiites by their doctrine 
of Imams practically modify this view of God, and that 
Mutazilites have doubted it, such is in brief the mono- 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 355 

theism of Islam over all the Mohammedan world. It 
was developed in barbarism; it appeals to barbarism, 
and since the world is still barbarous Islam is the reli- 
gion of about one-sixth of the human race. In East 
Africa, for example, it is winning converts far more 
rapidly than Christianity.' 

239. Christian monotheism. — The full religious rich- 
ness of monotheism is found only in Christianity. 
Things that are precious are a long time in the making. 
This is true of the Christian conception of God. That 
God is One and that he demands social justice had been 
the great message of the eighth-century prophets. 
Hosea and Jeremiah had taught that God loves like a 
fond husband and tender parent. These great truths, 
somewhat dimmed in the development of Jewish legal- 
ism, were not only revived but surpassed in the teaching 
and life of Jesus Christ. "Since Jesus lived God has 
been another and nearer Being to Man," Dr. Fairbairn 
said. Dr. Fosdick writes: "Jesus had the most joyous 
idea of God that ever was thought of." "That joyous 
sense of God he has given his followers," declares Glover, 
"and it stands in vivid contrast with the feehngs men 
have toward God in the other rehgions."* He gave 
new vividness to the fatherhood of God. His aU- 
embracing love, his tireless service to the down-trodden 
and suffering, gave a new depth and a new catholicity 
to love. After he lived men dared to beheve that God 
was like him. The nearness of God, his human interest, 

^ For a more complete statement see the chapter on the Moham- 
medan and Christian conceptions of God contributed by the writer to 
James L. Barton's Christian Approach to Islam (Boston, 1918). 

* T. R. Glover, The Jesus of History (New York, 191 7), p. 87, 
where Fairbairn and Fosdick are also quoted. 



356 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

his tireless and unchanging love, came back into human 
life at a higher tide than ever before. 

Decades passed and the great, nameless religious 
genius whose works pass under the name of John gave 
new and deeper significance to Philo's doctrine of the 
Word. By applying that term to Jesus Christ he trans- 
formed and transfigured its meaning. The Logos, or 
Word, was no longer a vague philosophical abstrac- 
tion; it glowed and palpitated with the life and love 
of Jesus. 

This writer too, catching from Christ truth before 
unbelievable, gave us our best definitions of God: ''God 
is Spirit"; ''God is Light"; "God is Love"— perfect 
metaphysically, morally, religiously. Men need new 
faculties before they can appreciate definitions of God 
better than these. The Fourth Gospel also tells us 
that Jesus had spoken of the Holy Spirit in personal 
terms as the Comforter, and that he had declared that 
this Comforter was his representative. 

As the first Christians recalled their contact with 
Jesus Christ they were convinced that God had in him 
come into human hfe in a unique way. After the lapse 
of centuries, when the Arians were den3dng that God 
had come into human Hfe, the Nicene Fathers enun- 
ciated the doctrine of the Trinity in order to maintain 
the faith that God had really come into the Hfe of man. 
It is doubtless true that the Nicene creed lacks the glow 
of the apostolic experience of God, but faith expressed 
in a formula is better than a faith lost. In reality the 
Fathers of the Oecumenical Councils were feehng after 
an important truth when they formulated the Christian 
doctrine of God in Trinitarian terms. 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 357 

Different minds assume different attitudes toward 
the conception that God is a Trinity. Some doubtless 
have conceived the divine existence in a fashion hardly 
distinguishable from tri theism; others have regarded 
it as a revealed mystery, incapable of rational compre- 
hension by the mind, but a mystery before which one 
must worship; still others have regarded it as a mathe- 
matical impossibility to be rejected as a figment of the 
pious imagination. Others (and among them are some 
of the keenest of modern educated men) have perceived 
that the idea that God is a Trinity stands for a great 
and necessarily eternal fact of the divine nature — a fact 
that no creed necessarily expresses in its completeness, 
but which is nowhere even hinted at in non-Christian 
monotheistic conceptions of God.' 

Intelligent Hfe as we know it on the earth is rich in 
its power to know, to sympathize, and to love. As no 
fountain can rise higher than its source, all this rich life 
must have its counterpart in God. No knowledge is 
possible without a knowing subject and a knowable 
object. Unless the nature of God is sufficiently manifold 
so that he contains in himself both subject and object, his 
knowledge is not eternal. It is easy to think back to a 
time, on that supposition, when God knew nothing. 
Unless the nature of God embraces realities correspond- 
ing in some degree to differences in personality, God's 
love could not be eternal. Love, unless it is hateful 
self-love, is a social product. Its existence presupposes 

^ It was set forth by John Caird in The Fundamental Ideas of Chris- 
tianity (Glasgow, 1899), Lecture III; by George A. Gordon in The 
Ultimate Conceptions of the Faith (Boston, 1903), pp. 370 ff.; and adopted 
by the writer in The Heart of the Christian Message (New York, 191 2), 
p. 202, and in chapter ix of J. L. Barton's Christian Approach to Islam. 



358 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

a lover and a beloved. If God be a lone monad it is 
not difficult to think back to a time when in all the uni- 
verse, even in God, noble love was unknown. Before 
the beginnings of creation such a God was not the 
eternally blessed One, but the eternally wretched One. 
Such a conception of God fails utterly to account for 
the richness of the intellectual and social Hfe of mankind. 
If God be only such a One as this, all that is best in 
human life is an exotic product foreign to the nature 
of the universe; the brutal powers of which must 
inevitably some day blot it out. If, on the other hand, 
God is in himself a social Being, as the Trinitarian 
doctriiie declares, he is not only Eternal Wisdom and 
Eternal Love but the guaranty that wisdom and love 
are bound to triumph over ignorance and brutahty. If 
all this is true "the stars in their courses" fight on the 
side of the social ideal. If all this is true it is of the 
very nature of God that ''he so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
on him might not perish." It is for this that the doc- 
trine of the Trinity stands. It may not express the 
whole truth. God may be multitarian for aught we 
know, but, however rich in diversities his nature may 
be, the faith that God is after all an essential unity, 
that in purpose and in love as well as in essence all his 
richly diversified nature is a unity, prevents Christianity 
from deserting the ranks of monotheistic religions. It 
is the flower of monotheism as monotheism is the flower 
of all that had gone before. 

We cannot really know even a neighbor, if we forever 
misunderstand him, and this is no less true of God. 
When the supernatural hosts are conceived as blood- 



THE UNFOLDING OF THE IDEA OF GOD 359 

thirsty and savage, without unity or ethical purpose, 
men cannot know God as he is. When these hosts 
are conceived as too impotent to help man — ^when man 
passes them by and rehes on his own unaided efforts — 
men cannot know God so as to let him illuminate life 
and heart. When God is conceived as an unknowable 
Absolute, when he is regarded as so weak that Satan is 
easily his rival, when he is thought of as an arbitrary 
and capricious despot, the deeper riches of the inner 
life, the highest joys of the human heart, are not called 
forth. When we pass in review the poverty of the 
nations, when we view in comparison the riches of 
the gospel of the "God who was in Christ reconciling 
the world unto himself," inevitably the obligation of the 
Great Commission rests upon us with a new emphasis: 
"Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations." 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

For supplementary reading on the topics treated in this 
chapter the student is referred to the bibliographies at the end 
of chapters i, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix, x, and xv, and in Appendix I. 



APPENDIX I 

ADDITIONAL BOOKS FOR THE USE OF 
THE TEACHER 

ETHNOLOGY 

Keane, A. H. Ethnology. Cambridge University Press, 1896. 
Brinton, D. G. Races and Peoples. New York, 1890. 
Hutchinson, Gregory, and Lydekker. The Living Races of Man- 
kind. New York, 1902. 
Ripley, W. Z. The Races of Europe. New York, 1889. 

SAVAGE RACES 

Spencer and Gillen. The Northern Tribes of Central Australia. 

London, 1904. 
Howitt, A. H. The Native Tribes of South-East Australia. 

London, 1904. 
Dowd, Jerome. The Negro Races. New York, 1907. 
Haddon, A. C. The Head Hunters. London, 1901. 
Gomes, E. H. Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo. 

London, 191 1. 
Codrington, R. H. The Melanesians. Oxford, 1891. 
Lopez, V. F. Les Races aryennes du Perou. Paris, 187 1. 
Payne, E. J. History of the New World Called America. 2 vols. 

Oxford, 1899. 
Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres 

Straits, chaps, xiii and xiv. Cambridge University Press, 

1908. 
Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough, 3d ed. London, 1914. 

. The Belief in Immortality. London, 19 13. 

. Lectures on the Early History of Kingship. London, 

1905. 

. Totemism and Exogamy. 4 vols. London, 1910. 

Webster, H. Primitive Secret Societies. New York, 1907. 

360 



APPENDIX I 361 

Lang, Andrew. The Making of Religion. London and New 

York, 1900. 
Morris, M. "The Influence of War and Agriculture upon the 

Religion of the Kayans and Sea Dyaks of Borneo," Journal 

of the American Oriental Society, XXV, 231-47, 
Conard, L. M. "The Idea of God Held by the North American 

Indians," American Journal of Theology, VII, 635-46. 
ChamberHn, A. F. "Haida, " in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of 

Religion and Ethics, VI, 469-77. 
Gray, L. H. "Iroquois," ihid., VII, 420-22. 
Alexander, H. B. "North American Mythology," in Gray's 

Mythology of All Races, Vol. X. Boston, 191 6. 
Dixon, R. B. "Oceanic Mythology" in Gray's Mythology of All 

Races, Vol. IX. Boston, 191 7. 
Scott, J. G. "Indo-Chinese Mythology" in Gray's Mythology of 

All Races, Vol. XII. Boston, 1918. 

RELIGIONS IN GENERAL 

Jevons, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religion. London, 1896. 
Toy, C. H. Introduction to the History of Religions. New York, 

1913- 
Menziez, A. History of Religion. New York, 1895. 
Carpenter, J. E. Comparative Religion. New York and London, 

1912. 
Jevons, F. B. Comparative Religion. Cambridge University 

Press, 1 913. 
Brinton, D. G. The Religion of Primitive Peoples. New York, 

1897. 
King, I. The Development of Religion, a Study in Anthropology 

and Social Psychology. New York, 1910. 
Moore, George F. The History of Religions. 2 vols. New York: 

Scribner, 1913-19. 
Morris, M. "The Economic Study of ReHgion," Journal of the 

American Oriental Society, XXIV, 394-426. 
Religions Past and Present, A series of lectures delivered by mem- 
bers of the Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Edited by James A. Montgomery. Philadelphia, 191 8. 
Hopkins, E. W. The History of Religions. New York, 19 18. 



362 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

SEMITIC RELIGIONS 

Smith, W. R. The Religion of the Semites, 2d ed. London, 1894. 
Barton, G. A. A Sketch of Semitic Origins, Social and Religious. 

New York, 1902. 
Curtiss, S. I. Primitive Semitic Religion Today. New York, 1902. 
Barton, G. A. "Tammuz and Osiris," Journal of the American 

Oriental Society, XXXV, 213-23. 

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN HISTORY 

King, L. W. History of Sumer and Akkad. London, 1910. 

. A History of Babylon. London, 191 5. 

Goodspeed, G. S. A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians. 

New York, 1902. 
Rogers, R. W. History of Babylonia and Assyria, 6th ed. New 

York, 1915. 
Jastrow, M., Jr. The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria. 

Philadelphia, 191 5. 

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION 

Jastrow, M., Jr. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. New York, 

1898. 
. Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens. 2 vols. Giessen, 

1905, 1912. 
. Aspects of Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria. 

New York, 1911. 
• . Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions. New York, 191 2. 



Rogers, R. W. The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. New 

York, 1908. 
King, L. W. Babylonian Religion and Mythology. London, 1899. 
Hehn, J. Die biblische und babylonische Gottesidee. Leipzig, 1913. 
Jeremias, A. Handbuch der altorientalischen Geistkultur. Leipzig, 

1913- 
Mackenzie, D. A. Myths of Babylonia and Assyria. London, 

1915. 

TRANSLATIONS OF BABYLONIAN RELIGIOUS TEXTS 

Harper, R. F. Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, pp. 282-460. 
New York, 1901. 



APPENDIX I 363 

Rogers, R. W. Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament. New 

York, 191 2. 
Barton, G. A. Archaeology and the Bible, Part II. Philadelphia, 

1915. 
Thompson, R. C. Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of 

Nineveh and Babylon, II. London, 1900. 
. The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia. 2 vols. 

London, 1903, 1904. 
King, L. W. The Seven Tablets of Creation, Vol. I. London, 

1902. 
Jastrow, M., Jr. Babylonian and Assyrian Birth-Omens. Gies- 

sen, 1914. 
Barton, G. A. Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions, Part I, 

Sumerian Religious Texts. New Haven, 191 8. 

EGYPTIAN HISTORY 

Breasted, J. H. History of Egypt, 2d ed. New York, 1909. 
. History of the Ancient Egyptians (condensed). New 

York, 1908. 
Petrie, W. M. Flinders. History of Egypt. 3 vols. New York, 

1895-1905. 
Budge, E. A. W. History of Egypt. 8 vols. London, 1902. 
Mahaffy, J. P. The Empire of the Ptolemies. London, 1895. 

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 

Erman, A. Handbook of Egyptian Religion, translated by A. S. 

Griffith. 1907. 
Steindorf, G. Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, 

1905. 
Petrie, W. M. FHnders. Religion and Conscience in Ancient 

Egypt. New York, 1898. 
Naville, E. The Old Egyptian Faith, translated by C. Campbell. 

London and New York, 1909. 
Breasted, J. H. Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient 

Egypt. New York, 191 2. 
Mackenzie, D. A. The Myths of Egypt. London, 1914. 
Budge, E. A. W. The Book of the Dead. London, 1898. 
. The Gods of the Egyptians. London, 1904. 



364 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Budge, E. A. W. The Literature of the Egyptians. London, 1914. 
Miiller, W. Max. "Egyptian Mythology," in Gray's Mythology 
of All Races, Vol. XII. Boston, 1918. 

THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 

Carpenter, J. E., and Harford-Battersby, G. The Hexateuch. 

London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1900. 
Addis, W. E. The Documents of the Hexateuch. London, 1898. 
Kent, C. F. The Student's Old Testament. New York, 1910-14. 

. The Historical Bible, Vols. I-IV. New York, 1908-13. 

Driver, S. R. "Leviticus," W. H. Bennett, "Joshua," and 

G. F. Moore, "Judges," in P. Haupt's Sacred Books of the 

Old Testament. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 
Nowack, W. "Richter, Ruth und Bucher Samuelis," and 

R. Kittel, "Die Biicher der Konige," in Nowack's Hand- 

komw.entar zum Alten Testament. Gottingen. 
Box, G. H. The Book of Isaiah. New York, 1909. 
Budde, K. The Religion of Israel to the Exile. New York, 

1899. 
Addis, W. E. Hebrew Religion to the Establishment of Judaism 

under Ezra. New York, 1906. 
Marti, K. The Religion of the Old Testament. New York, 1907. 
Smith, H. P. The Religion of Israel. New York, 1914. 
Peters, J. P. The Religion of the Hebrews. Boston, 1914. 
Bade, W. F. The Old Testament in the Light of Today. Boston, 

1914. 
Barton, G. A. The Religion of Israel. New York, 1918. 
Fowler, H. T. The Origin and Growth of the Hebrew Religion. 

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 191 6. 
WaUis, Louis. Sociological Study of the Bible. Chicago, 191 2. 

JUDAISM 

The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York, 1 901-6. 
Montgomery, J. A. The Samaritans. Philadelphia, 1907. 
Hereford, R. T. Christianity in Talmud and Midrash. London, 

1903. 
Abrahams, I. A Short History of Jewish Literature. New York, 

1906. 



APPENDIX I 365 

Abrahams, I. Jewish Life in the Middle Ages. Philadelphia, 
1906. 

. Judaism. London, 19 10. 

Friedlander, M. The Jewish Religion. London, 1900. 

Dnunmond, J. Philo Judaeus. London, 1888. 

Montefiore, C. G. Judaism and Saint Paul. London, 1914. 

Rosenau, W. Jewish Ceremonial Institutions and Customs. Balti- 
more, 1903. 

Kohler, K. Jewish Theology Systematically and Historically 
Considered. New York, 191 8. 

Fullerton, K. "Zionism," Harvard Theological Review, X, 
313-35. 

MOHAMMEDANISM 

The Qur'an, translated by E. H. Palmer (Oxford, 1880), being 

Vols. IV and IX in the Sacred Books of the East edited by 

F. Max Miiller. 
Oilman, A. The Saracens. New York and London, 1887. 
Lane-Poole, S. The Moors in Spain. New York and London, 

1891. 
. The Speeches and T able-Talk of the Prophet Mohammed. 

London, 1905. 
AH, Ameer. A Short History of the Saracens. London, 1899. 
Muir, Sir William. Mahomet and Islam. London, 1895. 
Margoliouth, D. S. Mohammed and the Rise of Islam in the 

"Heroes of the Nations" series. 

. Mohammedanism, in the "Home University Library." 

. The Early Development of Mohammedanism in the 

"Hibbert Lectures." New York, 19 14. 
Macdonald, D. B. Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Consti- 
tutional Theory. New York, 1903. 
. The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam. Chicago: 

The University of Chicago Press, 1909. 

. Aspects of Islam. New York, 191 1. 

. "The Life of Al-Ghazali," Journal of the American 

Oriental Society, XX, 71-132. New Haven, 1899. 
Nicholson, R. A. The Mystics of Islam. London, 19 14. 
Bliss, F. J. The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine, 

chaps, iv-vi. New York, 191 2. 



366 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Goldziher, I. Mohammed and Islam, translated by Kate Cham- 
bers Seelye. New Haven, 191 7. 
Barton, J. L. The Christian Approach to Islam. Boston, 1918. 

ZOROASTRIANISM 

Jackson, A. V. W. Zoroaster the Prophet of Ancient Iran. London 
and New York, 1901. 

Miiller, F. Max. The Sacred Books of the East, Vols. IV, V, 
XXIII, XXXI, and XLVII. 

Moulton, J. H. Early Zoroastrianism. London, 19 13. 

Jackson, A. V. W. "Zoroastrianism," in the Jewish Encyclo- 
pedia, XII. 

Moore, G. F. "Zoroastrianism," Harvard Theological Review, 
V, 180-226. 

Kapadia, S. A. The Teachings of Zoroaster and the Philosophy of 
the Par si Religion. London, 19 13. 

Jackson, A. V. W., and Gray, L. H. "The Religion of the 
Achaemenian Kings," Journal of the American Oriental 
Society, XXI, 160-84, 

Dhalla, M. N. The Nyaishes, or Zoroastrian Litanies. New 
York, 1908. 

Moulton, J. H. "The Zoroastrian Conception of a Future Life," 
Journal of Transactions of the Victoria Institute, XLVII, 
233-52. London, 1915. 

Carnoy, A. J. "Iranian Mythology" in Gray's Mythology of All 
Races, Vol. VI. Boston, 191 7. 

Moulton, J. H. Treasures of Magi; A Study of Modern Zoroas- 
trianism. Oxford, 1918. 

RELIGION OF THE VEDAS 

Grassman, Herman. Rig-Veda uebersetzt. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1877. 
Deussen, Paul. Sechzig Upanishads des Veda. Leipzig, 1897. 
MuUer, F. Max. Sacred Books of the East, Vols. I, XV, XXXII, 

XLII, XL VI. 
Lanman, C. R. Atharva-Veda Samhita. 2 vols. 1905. 
MacdoneU, A. A. A History of Sanskrit Literature. New Yoric, 

1900. 
. "Vedic Mythology" in Grundriss der indo-irenischen 

Philologie. 



APPENDIX I 367 

Bloomfield, M. The Religion of the Veda. New York, 1908. 
Hoenle, A, F. R., and Stark, H. A. History of India. Cuttack, 

1904. 
Hopkins, E. Washburn. The Religions of India. Boston, 1895. 
Kieth, A. B. "Indian Mythology," in Gray's Mythology of All 

Races, VI, 15-102. Boston, 1917. 

BUDDHISM 

MiiUer, F. Max. Sacred Books of the East, Vols. X, XI, XIII, 
XVII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXXV, XXXVI, and XLIX. 

Warren, Henry C. Buddhism in Translations. Cambridge, 1896. 
Smith, V. A. Asoka the Btiddhist Emperor of India. Oxford, 1901. 
. Early History of India Including Alexander's Campaigns. 

Oxford, 1914. 
Cunningham, A. The Ancient Geography of India. London, 

1871. 
Beal, S. A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures in China. London, 

1871. 
. A bstract of Four Lectures on Buddhist Literature in China. 

London, 1882. 
Rockhill, W. W. The Life of the Buddha and the Early History of 

His Orders Derived from Tibetan Works, etc. London, 1884. 
Grimblot, M. P. Sept suttas pdlis. Paris, 1876. 
Neumann, K. E. Reden Gotamo Buddho's. 4 vols. Leipzig, 

1896-1905. 
Fausboll, W. The Dhammapada. London, 1900. 
Copleston, R. S. Buddhism. London, 1892. 
Davids, T. W. Rhys. Buddhism. London, 1903. 

. Buddhist India. New York, 1903. 

Edmunds, A. J. Buddhist and Christian Gospels, 4th ed. Phila- 
delphia, 1908. 
Davids, Mrs. Rhys. Buddhism, in the "Home University 

Library." 
. A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics. London, 

1900. 
Hopkins, E. W. T?te Religions of India. Boston, 1895. 
Kieth, A. B. "Indian Mythology," in Gray's Mythology of All 

Races, VI, 187-219. Boston, 1917. 



368 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

JAINISM 

Jacobi, H., in Miiller's Sacred Books of the East, Vols. XXII and 
XLV. 

. "Jainism" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and 

Ethics, VII. 

Hopkins, E. W. The Religions of India. 

Stevenson, Mrs. S. The Heart of Jainism. Oxford University- 
Press, 1915. 

Kieth, A. B. "Indian Mythology," in Gray's Mythology of All 
Races, VI, 220-29. Boston, 1917. 

HIJJDinSM 

Miiller, F. Max. The Sacred Books of the East, Vols. II, VII, 

VIII, and XXXIV. 
Hopkins, E. W. The Ordinances of Manu. London, 1884. 

. The Great Epic of India. New York, 1 901, 

. The Religions of India. Boston, 1895. 

Monier- Williams. Brahmanism and Hinduism, 4th ed. London, 

1891. 
Oman, J. C. Indian Epics, the Rdmayana and Mahdbhdrata. 

London, 1906. 
. Cults, Customs, and Superstitions of India. London, 

1908. 
Dutt, R. C. Mahdbhdrata the Epic of Ancient India Condensed 

into English Verse. London, 1899. 
Arnold, Sir Edwin. The Song Celestial, or the Bhagavad-Gttd. 

Boston, 1909. (Arnold's translation conveys poetic feeling; 

that in Sacred Books of the East, Vol. VIII, gives the original 

with Hteral fidehty.) 
Hastings, James. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, II, the 

articles "Arya Samaj," "Bhagavad-Gita," "Bhakti-Marga," 

"Brahman," "Brahmanism," and "Brahma Samaj," by 

different authors. New York, 1910. 
Macnicol, N. Indian Theism. Oxford University Press, 191 5. 
Elmore, W. T. Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism. Hamilton, 

N.Y., 1915. 
Advanced Text Book of Hindu Religion and Ethics. Benares, 

1904. 



APPENDIX I 36Q 

Kieth, A. B. "Indian Mythology," in Gray's Mythology of All 
Races, VI, 103-86; 230-50. Boston, 191 7. 

RELIGIONS OF CHINA 

Hirth, F. The Ancient History of China. New York, 191 1. 
Williams, S. Wells. A History of China. New York, 1897. 
Boulger, D. C. The History of China. 2 vols. London, 1898. 
Giles, H. A. A History of Chinese Literature. New York, 1901. 
Mliller, F. Max. Sacred Books of the East, Vols. Ill, XVI, XIX, 

XXVII, XXVIII, XXXIX, and XL (translations by Legge 

of Chinese Canonical Books and Life of Buddha). 
Wilson, E. Chinese Literature (translations of the Analects of 

Confucius, the Shi-King, and the sa3dngs of Mencius). 

New York, 1900. 
De Groot, J. J. M. The Religious Systems of China. 6 vols. 

Leyden, 1892-1910. 
. Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China. 2 vols. 

Amsterdam, 1903-4. 

. The Religion of the Chinese. New York, 1910. 

. Religion in China. New York, 191 2. 



Legge, James. The Religions of China. New York, 1881. 
Douglas, R. K. Confucianism and Taoism. London, 1900. 
Giles, H. A. The Civilization of the Chinese. London, 191 1. 

. China and the Chinese. New York, 1902. 

. Chinese Poetry in English Verse. London, 1898. 

. Confucianism and Its Rivals. New York, 1915. 

Soothill, W. E. The Three Religions of China. London, 1913. 

RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 

Asakawa, K. "Japan, " in H. C. Lodge, The History of the Nations, 

Vol. VII. Philadelphia, 1906. 
Brinkley, F. A History of the Japanese People. London, 191 5. 
Nitobe, I. Bushido, the Soul of Japan. Philadelphia, 1900. 

. The Japanese Nation. New York, 191 2. 

Armstrong, R. C. Light from the East: Studies in Confucianism. 

Toronto, 1914. 
Ashton, W. G. A History of Japanese Literature. London, 1899, 
Grif&s, W. E. The Religions of Japan. New York, 1895. 



370 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Knox, G. W. The Development of Religion in Japan. New York, 
1907. 

Ashton, W. G. Shinto {the Way of the Gods). London, 1905. 

Ashida, K. "Japan," in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
Ethics, VII. 

Lloyd, A., The Creed of Half Japan, Historical Sketches in Japa- 
nese Buddhism. London, 191 1. 

RELIGION OF GREECE 

Wright, Wilmer Cave. A Short History of Greek Literature. 

New York, 1907. 
Farnell, L. R. The Cults of the Greek States. 5 vols. Oxford, 

I 896-1 909. 

. The Higher Aspects of Greek Religion. New York, 191 2. 

. " Greek Religion, " in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion 

and Ethics. 
Fairbanks, Arthur. Handbook of Greek Religion. New York, 

1910. 
Harrison, Jane E. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 

2d ed. Cambridge, 1908. 
. Themis, a Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion. 

Cambridge, 191 2. 
Murray, Gilbert. Four Stages of Greek Religion. New York, 

1912. 
Rouse, W. H. D. Greek Votive Offerings. Cambridge, 1902. 
Moore, Clifford H. The Religious Thought of the Greeks. Cam- 
bridge, 1916. 

RELIGION OF ROME 

Wissowa, George. Religion und Kultus der Romer, 2te Aufl. 

Miinchen, 191 2. 
Fowler, W. Warde. The Religious Experience of the Roman 

People. London, 191 1. 
. Roman Ideas of Deity in the Last Century before the 

Christian Era. London, 19 14. 
Carter, Jesse B. The Religion of Numa and Other Essays on the 

Religion of Ancient Rome. New York, 1906. 
. The Religious Life of Ancient Rome. Boston, 1911. 



APPENDIX I 371 

Cimiont, F. The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. 

Chicago, 191 1. 

. The Mysteries of Mithra. Chicago, 1903. 

. Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans. 

New York, 191 2. 
Glover, T. R. The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire. 

London, 1909. 
Herbig, G. "Etruscan Religion" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of 

Religion and Ethics, V, 532-40. 
Wenley, R. M. " Cynics, " in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion 

and Ethics, IV, 378-83. 

RELIGION OF THE CELTS 

Rhys, Sir John. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as 
Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom. 3d ed. London, 1898. 

. Celtic Folk-Lore. 2 vols. Oxford, 1901. 

. Celtic Britain. London, 1908. 

MacCulloch, J. A. The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Edin- 
burgh, 191 1. 

. "Celts," in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and 

Ethics. 

MacLagan, R. C. Scottish Myths. Edinburgh, 1882, 

Nutt, A. Cuchulainn, the Irish Achilles. London, 1900. 

. Ossian and the Ossianic Literature. London, 1899. 

John, I. B. The Mabinogion. London, 1901. 

Ripley, W. Z. The Races of Europe, pp. 124-28. New York, 
1899. 

RELIGION OF THE TEUTONS 

Gummere, F. B. Germanic Origins. New York, 1892. 

Chantepie de la Saussaye, F. D. The Religion of the Teutons. 
Boston, 1902. 

Rydberg, V. Teutonic Mythology. Translated by R. B. Ander- 
son, London, 1889. 

Ludlow, J. M. Popular Epics of the Middle Ages. 2 vols. 
London and Cambridge, 1865. 

Horton, A., and Bell, E. The Lay of the Nibelungs. London, 
1898. 

Shumway, D. B. The Nibelungenlied. Boston, 1909. 



372 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

Amour, M. The Fall of the Nihelungs. London, 1897. 

Cottle, A. S. Icelandic Poetry or the Edda of Saemund. Bristol, 

1797. 
Brodeur, A. G. The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. New York, 

1916. 
Bugge, S. The Home of the Eddie Poems. Translated by W. H. 

Schofield, London, 1899. 
Earned, A. Tales from the Norse Grandmother {The Elder Edda). 

New York, 1881. 
Faraday, W. The Edda: The Divine Mythology of the North. 

London, 1902. 

CHRISTIANITY 

Burton and Mathews. The Life of Christ, 2d ed. Chicago: 

The University of Chicago Press, 1901. 
Holtzmann, Oscar. The Life of Jesus. London, 1904. 
Case, S. J. The Historicity of Jesus. Chicago: The University 

of Chicago Press, 191 2. 
Glover, T. R. The Jesus of History. New York, 191 7. 
Sabatier, A. The Apostle Paul. New York, 1893. 
Bruce, A. B. St. Paul's Conception of Christianity. New York, 

1894. 
Stevens, G. B. Pauline Theology. New York, 1892. 

. Johannine Theology. New York, 1894. 

Scott, E. F. The Fourth Gospel. Edinburgh, 1906. 
Walker, W. History of the Christian Church. New York, 19 18. 
Fisher, G. P. History of Christian Doctrine. New York, 1896. 
Rainey, R. The Ancient Catholic Church. New York, 1902. 
Case, S. J. The Evolution of Christianity. Chicago, 1914. 
Adeney, W. F. The Greek and Eastern Churches. New York, 

1908. 
Workman, H. B. Christian Thought to the Reformation. New 

York, 1911. 
Allen, A. V. G. The Continuity of Christian Thought. Boston, 

1884. 

. Christian Institutions. New York, 1897. 

Briggs, C. A. Theological Symbolics. New York, 1914. 
Barton, G. A. The Heart of the Christian Message, 2d ed. New 

York, 191 2. 



APPENDIX I 373 

Hatch, E. The Organization of the Early Christian Churches. 

London, 1892. 
Lindsay, T. M. The Church and the Ministry in the Early 

Centuries. New York, 1902. 
. A History of the Reformation. 2 vols. New York, 

1906-7. 
Jones, R. M. Studies in Mystical Religion. London, 1909. 
. Spiritual Reformers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth 

Centuries. London, 1914. 
McGiffert, A. C. Protestant Thought before Kant. New York, 

1911. 
Moore, E. C. Protestant Thought since Kant. New York, 191 2. 
Clarke, W. N. Outlines of Christian Theology, 15th ed. New 

York, 1907. 

. The Use of Scripture in Theology. New York, 1905. 

Orr, J. The Ritschlian Theology and the Evangelical Faith. 2d ed. 

New York, i898(?). 
McGiffert, A. C. The Rise of Modern Religious Ideas. New 

York, 191 5. 
Ward, W. H. What I Believe and Why. New York, 191 5. 
Caird, John. The Fundamental Ideas of Christianity. 2 vols. 

Glasgow, 1899. 
Gordon, G. A. Ultimate Conceptions of the Faith, Boston, 1903. 



APPENDIX II 

TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY, CLASSROOM DISCUS- 
SION, OR ASSIGNED PAPERS 

CHAPTER I 

1. The Function of Mythology in ReHgion. 

2. The Extent and Significance of the BeUef in ImmortaUty. 

3. The Rise of the BeHef in Pantheons and Departmental 
Gods. 

4. Different Theories of Sacrifice. 

5. The Place of Prayer in Early Religions. 

6. The Conceptions of Sin in Early Religions. 

7. The Nature of Salvation in Early ReHgions. 

8. The Nature of Priesthoods in Early ReHgions. 

9. The Characteristic Features of the Religion of the Primi- 
tive Hamites and Semites. 

CHAPTER n 

1. The Relation of Babylonian Views of the Supernatural to 
Those of Primitive Men. 

2. Are There Traces of Totemism in Babylonia ? 

3. At What Period Did Astrology Develop in Babylonia ? 

4. How Do Babylonian Hymns Compare with Hebrew 
Psalms ? 

5. The Nature of the Babylonian Conception of Sin. 

6. To What Extent Did Babylonian ReHgion Influence 
Morals ? 

CHAPTER in 

1. The Relation of Egyptian Animal-Worship to Totemism. 

2. The Various Theories Concerning the Cult of Osiris. 

3. The Nature of the Egyptian Social Conscience and Ethics 
and the Relation of These to the Economic and PoHtical Life of 
the Country. 

374 



APPENDIX II 375 

4. The Relation of the Egyptian Conceptions of the Life after 
Death to Egyptian Ethics. 

5. What Conception of Sin and Atonement Did the Egyptians 
Hold? 

CHAPTER IV 

1. Was Yahweh Originally Akin to Other Semitic Gods? 

2. The Relation of Israel's Early ReHgious Development to 
Her Social Development. 

3. Modern Views of the Messianic Hope in Pre-exilic Times. 

4. The Influence of the Assyrian and Babylonian Wars on 
Israel's ReHgion. 

5. Modem Views of the "Servant of Yahweh" in Second 
Isaiah. 

6. The Contrast between the Prophets and the Law. 

CHAPTER V 

1. The Composition of the Psalter. 

2. The ReHgious Point of View of the "Wisdom" Books. 

3. The Nature and Function of the Apocalyptic Books. 

4. The Rise of the Pharisees and Their ReHgious Influence. 

5. Philo and Judaeo-Greek Philcsophy. 

6. Jewish Literature in the Middle Ages. 

7. Jewish Scholars in the Middle Ages. 

8. Jewish Influence in Modern Life. 

CHAPTER VI 

1. Comparison of Mohammed with the Hebrew Prophets. 

2. The Ethics of the Koran. 

3. The Mohammedan Tests of the Genuineness of a Tradition. 

4. The Life of Al-GhazaH. 

5. Ibn Khaldun's Metaphysics. 

6. Islamic Mysticism. 

7. The Druses and Babists. 

8. Has Mohammedanism Contributed Any Great Truth to 
the World's Stock of ReHgious Knowledge ? 

CHAPTER vn 

1. The Relation of Iranian Heathenism to the Vedic Religion. 

2. The Ethics of Zoroastrianism. 



376 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

3. The Ritual of Later Zoroastrianism (Vendidad, Yashts, 
and Pahlavi Texts). 

4. The Zoroastrian Conception of the Last Things. 

5. A Comparison of Zoroastrianism and Judaism. 

CHAPTER vin 

1. The Nature of the Hymns Addressed to Indra. 

2. The Nature of the Hymns Addressed to Varuna. 

3. The Mixture of Priestcraft and Nature-Worship in the 
Veda. 

4. The Influence of Racial Fusion and the Climate of India 
on the Upanishads. 

5. The Contrast between the Philosophy of the Upanishads 
and Christianity. 

CHAPTER rx 

1. The Relation of Buddha's Conception of the World to 
That of the Upanishads. 

2. A Comparison of Buddhist and Christian Ethical Teaching. 

3. A Comparison of the Buddhist and Christian Scriptures. 

4. A Comparison of Buddhism and Jainism. 

5. A Comparison of Modem Buddhism with Primitive 
Buddhism. 

CHAPTER X 

1. The Relation of the Sankhya-Yoga Philosophies to Bud- 
dhism. 

2. The Influence of Buddhism and Jainism upon the Develop- 
ment of the Vishnu-Religion. 

3. The Differences and Resemblances of the Vishnu- and 
Civa-Religion. 

4. A Comparison of the Bhagavad-Gita with the New 
Testament. 

5. A Comparison of the Vedanta Philosophy with That of 
Spinoza. 

6. A Comparison of Ram Mohan Ray, Founder of the 
Brahma Samaj, with Martin Luther. 

CHAPTER XI 

1. The Chinese Conception of the Supernatural. 

2. Chinese Divination. 



APPENDIX II 377 

3. To Wliat Extent Is Confucianism a Religion ? 

4. The Mysticism of Lao-tze and Kwang-tze. 

5. The History of Buddhism in China. 

6. Chinese Popular Religion Today. 

7. A Comparison of the Chinese Religious Temperament 
with the Semitic and Indian. 

CHAPTER Xn 

1. A Comparison of the Chinese and Japanese Conceptions of 
the Divine. 

2. A Comparison of the Reception Accorded Buddhism in 
the Sixth Century and That Accorded Western Culture in the 
Nineteenth. 

3. The Causes That Produced Bushido. 

4. The Differences between Confucianism in China and in 
Japan. 

5. CathoHc Christianity in Japan in the Middle Ages. 

CHAPTER xin 

1. The Extent of the Influence of Aegean Civilization on the 
Religion of Greece. 

2. The Growth of Greek Mythology. 

3. The Relation of the Development of Greek ReHgion to 
the Expanding Life of the Nation. 

4. A Comparison of Greek Philosophical Monotheism with 
Hebrew Monotheism. 

5. A Comparison of Greek Religious Philosophy with the 
Religious Philosophies of India. 

6. A Comparison of Greek ReHgious Philosophy with That 
of China. 

7. The Influence of Greek Philosophy upon Judaism. 

CHAPTER XIV 

1. A Comparison of Roman Family ReKgion with the Earhest 
Forms of Other Indo-European ReKgions. 

2. A Comparison of Early Roman ReUgion with Early 
Japanese ReHgion. 

3. Etruscan ReHgion and Its Influence upon Rome. 



378 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

4. The Influence of ImperiaKsm on the Religion of Rome. 

5. The Organization of Emperor- Worship. 

6. The Birth and Development of Individualism in Roman 
Religion. 

7. Oriental Influences in the Religion of the Empire. 

CHAPTER XV 

1. The Ethnographic Problem of the Celtic Race. 

2. The Origin of the Druids. 

3. Traces of Matriarchy among the Celts. 

4. The Nature and Functions of the Irish God Lug. 

5. The Celtic Elysium in Irish Poetry. 

6. Mythical Elements in Teutonic Heroic Sagas. 

7. The Nature and Form of Teutonic Temples in Germany, 
Scandanavia, and Iceland. 

8. The Norse World-Tree Yggdrasil. 

9. Teutonic Cosmogony. 

10. Survivals of Celtic and Norse Religion in European 
Christianity. 

CHAPTER XVI 

1. The Nature of Gnosticism and Its Influence on Christianity. 

2. The Influence of the Mystery-Religions upon Christianity. 

3. The Influence of Greek Thought on Christianity. 

4. The Influence of the Decian Persecution upon Christian 
Thought. 

5. The Rise of Manichaeism, Its Nature, and Its Influence on 
Christianity. 

6. The Influence of Roman Imperial Ideals upon the Church. 

7. The Causes of the Reformation, 

8. The Influence of the Philosophy of Locke on Christianity. 

9. The Influence of the Philosophy of Kant on Christianity. 

10. The Mystic Elements in Christianity. 

11. The Influence of Modern Science on Christianity. 

12. The Rise of Modern Missions. 

13. The New Theology. 



APPENDIX III 

OUTLINE OF A BOOK TO BE WRITTEN 
BY THE STUDENT 

CHAPTER I 

1. Evidence for the Psychological Unity of the Race. 

2. The Place of Ritual in Early Religions. 

3. The Function of Myths in Early Religions. 

CHAPTER n 

1. The Prevalence of Animism. 

2. The Conceptions of the Soul Entertained by Early Men. 

3. Diffusion of the BeHef in Transmigration of the Soul. 

4. Conceptions of the Life after Death. 

CHAPTER m 

1. The Development of Gods. 

2. Their Connection with Specific Localities. 

3. Effects of Social and Economic Conditions upon the Ideas 
Entertained of Them. 

4. Fetishism and Idols. 

CHAPTER IV 

1. Totemism. 

2. Taboo. 

3. Sacrifice. 

CHAPTER V 

I. Early Ideas of Sin, Atonement, and Righteousness. 

CHAPTER VI 

1. The Babylonian Conception of the Supernatural, and 
Man's Relation to It, Including Sin, Sickness, Atonement, and 
HeaUng. 

2. The Influence of ReHgion on Morals. 

379 



380 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



CHAPTER Vn 

I. The Babylonian Conception of Nature as Reflected in the 
Myths, Including the World, Its Structure, the Abode of the 
Gods and the Under-World, the Heavens and the Heavenly 
Bodies. 

CHAPTER vra 

1. The Egyptian Gods and Their Development. 

2. The Egyptian Conception of the Supernatural and Man's 
Relation to It. 

3. The Place of Priesthood and Sacrifice in the Eg3T)tian 
Religion. 

4. The Reform of Ikhnaton and Why It Failed. 



CHAPTER DC 

1. The Evolution of the Social Conscience in Egypt. 

2. The Standards of Conduct in Egyptian Ethical Systems. 

3. The Influence of Egypt upon Christian Theology. 



CHAPTER X 

1. The Formation of Israel. 

2. The Purpose and Value of the Patriarchal Narratives. 

3. The Covenant at Sinai. 

4. The Effects of the Settled Life in Palestine on the Rehgion. 

5. The Social and ReHgious Life in the Time of EHjah and 
EHsha. 

CHAPTER XI 

1. The Religious Ideals of the Eighth-Century Prophets. 

2. Their Social Ideals. 

3. The Messianic Hope in Isaiah. 

4. The Conditions That Led to the Deuteronomic Reform. 

5. The Religious Ideals of Jeremiah. 

6. Ezekiel and the Codifiers of the Priestly Law. 

7. The Second Isaiah's Religious Conceptions. 



APPENDIX m 381 

CHAPTER Xn 

1. The Standpoint of Legalism. 

2. The Standpoint of the Sages. 

3. The Religious Passion of the Psalmists. 

4. The Religious Need Supplied by the S5^agogue. 

5. The Religious Need Supplied by the Apocalypses. 

6. The Forces Which Developed Pharisaism. 

7. The Effects of Greek Philosophy upon Judaism. 

CHAPTER xin 

1. The Religious Need Supplied by the Talmud. 

2. The Influence of Eariy Christianity upon the Development 
of Judaism. 

3. The Influence of Mohammedanism upon Judaism. 

4. The Blossoming of Jewish Genius in the Middle Ages. 

5. The Influence of the Ghetto upon Judaism. 

6. The Influence of Modem Thought upon Judaism. 

7. The Contribution of Modem Judaism to Modern Life. 

CHAPTER XIV 

1. The Methods and Aims of Mohammed's Ministry at 
Mecca. 

2. The Methods and Aims of His Ministry at Medina. 

3. The Ideals of the Medina Caliphate. 

4. The Transformation of Those Ideals in the Oma3^ad and 
Abbasside Caliphates. 

5. The Islamic State, and Islamic Law. 

CHAPTER XV 

1. The Rift between the Shiites and Sunnites. 

2. The ReHgious Conceptions of the Shiite Sects — ^How Many 
of Them Are Foreign to Islam ? 

3. Mohammedan Scholastic Theology, Its Aims and Methods. 

4. The Islamic Ascetic Orders, Their Number, Aims, and 
Influence. 

5. The Principles of Mohammedan Mysticism. 



382 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

CHAPTER XVI 

1. Ancient Iran, Its People, and ReKgion. 

2. Zoroaster, His Preparation for His Work. 

3. His Prophetic Career. 

4. Zoroastrianism under the Achaemenians. 

5. Under the Greeks and Parthians. 

6. Under the Sassanians. 

7. Since the Mohammedan Conquest. 

CHAPTER XVII 

1. Zoroaster's Doctrine of God and Angels. 

2. Angra Mainyu and Demons in Zoroastrianism. 

3. The Doctrine of Man in Zoroastrianism. 

4. Zoroastrian Ethics. 

5. Zoroastrian Ritual and Priesthood. 

6. The Zoroastrian Eschatology. 

7. The Development from the Founder to the Later Religion. 

CHAPTER xvm 

1. The Land and Climate of India. 

2. The People of the Vedas and Their Social Organization. 

3. The Strata of the Vedic Literature. 

4. The Gods of the Rig- Veda. 

5. The Ritual of the Rig- Veda. 

6. The Vedic Conception of Salvation. 

CHAPTER xrx 

1. The Demonology and Magic of the Atharva-Veda. 

2. The Development of Thought in the Brahmanas. 

3. The Philosophy of the Upanishads. 

CHAPTER XX 

1. The Life of Vardhamana, the Founder of Jainism. 

2. The Jain Conception of the Universe and Salvation. 

3. The Rules of the Jain Order. 

4. The Later Development of Jainism. 



APPENDIX m 383 

CHAPTER XXI 

1. The Early Life of Gautama. 

2. The Religious Experience of Gautama. 

3. The Ministry of Gautama. 

4. The Philosophical and Ethical Teaching of Gautama. 

5. Buddhist Monks. 

6. The Buddhist Laity. 

7. The Apotheosis of Gautama. 

8. Mahay ana Buddhism. 

CHAPTER xxn 

1. The Sankha and Yoga Systems of Philosophy. 

2. The ReHgion of the Lawbooks of Gautama, Apastamba, 
and Manu. 

3. The Development of the Krishna- Vishnu Religion in the 
Mahdbhdrata, Including the Bhagavad-Gita. 

4. The Development of the Ramanya and the Rama Sects. 

5. The ReHgion of the Institutes of Vishnu. 

CHAPTER xxin 

1. The Vedanta Philosophy. 

2. The Philosophy of Ramanuja and Other Systems. 

3. The Civaite Sects. 

4. Indian Temples and Their Ritual. 

5. The Sikhs and Other Mediaeval Sects of India. 

6. Modem Reformed Sects of India. 

CHAPTER XXIV 

1. The Animism of the Chinese. 

2. Ancestor- Worship in China. 

3. The State Religion of China. 

4. Confucius and His System. 

5. Mencius and the State ReHgion. 

CHAPTER XXV 

1. The Taoism of Lao-tze. 

2. The Taoism of Kwang-tze. 



384 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

3. The Degeneracy of Taoism. 

4. The Introduction of Buddhism into China. 

5. The History and Character of Chinese Buddhism. 

6. Popular ReHgion in China. 

CHAPTER XXVI 

1. The Social Organization of the Early Japanese. 

2. The Primitive Beliefs and Practices. 

3. The Organization of Shinto. 

4. The Influence of Shinto on the History of Japan. 

CHAPTER XXVn 

1. The Coming of Buddhism to Japan. 

2. The Influence of Buddhism on the Country. 

3. The Buddhist Sects in Japan. 

4. The Various Waves of Confucian Influence in Japan. 

5. The Differences between Japanese and Chinese Confu- 
cianism. 

CHAPTER XXVin 

1. The ReKgion of the Aegean Civilization. 

2. The Religion Brought by the Greeks. 

3. The Religion of the Epic Poems. 

4. The Religion of Hesiod. 

5. The ReHgion of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries B.C. 

CHAPTER XXIX 

1. The Religion of the Tragedians. 

2. The Religion of Socrates. 

3. The ReKgion of Plato. 

4. The Religion of Aristotle. 

5. The Religion of the Stoics. 

6. The ReHgion of the Epicureans. 

CHAPTER XXX 

1. The Family ReHgion of the Romans. 

2. The Religion of the Etruscans.^ 

» See "Etruscan Religion" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
Ethics, V, 532-540. 



APPENDIX III 385 

3. The Development of the Roman State Religion. 

4. Religion from 500 to 200 B.C. 

5. Religion from 200 to 31 B.C. 

CHAPTER XXXI 

1. The Worship of Roman Emperors. 

2. The Systems of Philosophy in the Empire. 

3. The Mystery-Religions in the Empire. 

CHAPTER XXXn 

1. Who the Celts Are. 

2. The Names of Their Deities in the Different Celtic 
Nations. 

3. The Celtic Conception of Sin and Atonement. 

4. The Celtic BeUefs in Life after Death. 

CHAPTER XXXm 

1. Teutonic Social Organization. 

2. The Connection between Teutonic ReHgion and Tribal 
Affairs. 

3. The Nature of the Various Teutonic Gods. 

4. The Place of Sacrifice in Teutonic Rehgion. 

5. The Place Accorded War and the Warrior in Teutonic 
Religion. 

6. The Soul and Its Fortunes According to Teutonic Con- 
ceptions. 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

1. The Life and Teachings of Jesus. 

2. Christianity before Paul. 

3. Paul, the Man, His Thought and Work. 

4. The Johannine Christianity. 

5. Other Currents of Thought in the New Testament. 

CHAPTER XXXV 

1. The Character of Gnosticism. 

2. The Church Struggling with Gnosticism. 

3. The Christian Apologists. 



386 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 

4. The Broadening Influence of Greek Philosophy upon 
Christianity. 

5. The Development of the Idea of the Church in the West. 

6. The Christological Controversies. 

7. The Later History of the Eastern Churches. 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

1. The Rise of the Papacy. 

2. The Theology of Augustine. 

3. The Rise of Scholasticism. 

4. The Closing of the Bible to the Laity. 

5. The Christian Saints of the Middle Ages, St. Bernard, 
St. Francis of Assisi, etc. 

CHAPTER XXXVn 

1. Causes Leading to the Reformation. 

2. The Work of Luther and Zwingli. 

3. The Work of Calvin. 

4. Minor Sects, Mennonites, Schwenkfelders, Anabaptists, 
Socinians, etc. 

5. The Reformation in England and Scotland. 

6. The Seventeenth-Century Christianity. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 

1. Christian Thought and Life in the Eighteenth Century. 

2. The Revival of Interest in the Nineteenth Century. 

3. Christian Missions in the Nineteenth Century. 

4. The Influence of Hegel on Christianity. 

5. The Tractarian Movement. 

6. Reactionary Movements in the Church of Rome. 

7. The Influence of Expanding Knowledge on Christianity. 

CHAPTER XXXIX 

1. The Difference between Gods and Other Animistic Spirits. 

2. Savage Conceptions of Gods as to Functions, Shrines, and 
Ethics. 

3. Pantheons and the Feeling for the Unity of the World. 



APPENDIX III 387 

4. Evidences That There Was a New Epoch in the Spiritual 
Development of Man between 800 and 400 B.C. 

5. The Religion of Pantheism. 

6. Religions of Salvation by Self. 

7. The Various Forms of Mahayana Buddhism. 

8. The ReHgious Value of Monotheism, as Shown (a) in 
Judaism, (b) in Zoroastrianism, (c) in Islam, (d) in Christianity- 

9. The Most Satisfactory Form of Monotheism as Shown by 
Its Fruits. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Aaron, 62 

Abbaside caliphate, 103 f. 

Abelard, 328 

Abrahams, I, 96, 364, 365 

Abu Bekr, loi 

Abu Hanifa, 91, 107 

Abydos, Egyptian ci.ty, 37, 40 

Achaemenian dynasty, 119, 127 f,, 

130 
Acts of the Apostles, 316 
Agvins, 146 
Adapa, 29 
Adda, Babylonian storm-god, 23, 

25 

Addis, W. E., 75, 78, 364 

Adeney, W. F., 372 

Aegean civilization, 243 

Aeschylus, 242, 254 f. 

Aesculapius, 272 

Aeshma Daeva, 133 

Agade, Babylonian city, 20, 22, 23 

Agathias, 131 

Agni, fire-god, 122, 138, 145, 184 

Ahab, 65 

Ahmad ibn Hanbal, 108 

Ahriman, 133, 134, 135. See also 

Angra Mainyu 
Ahura, 121 
Ahura Mazda, 121, 123!., 125!, 

128, 130, 133, 135 
Ajatasatru, 169 
Akiba, Rabbi, 88 
Akkad, 24 
Al-Ashari, 112 
Al-Bokhari, 106 

Alexander the Great, 81, 131, 169 
Al-Ghazali, 112 ff. 



Ali, Ameer, 365 

Ali, fourth caliph, 102 f. 

Allen, A. V. G., 372 

Al-Mohads, 115 

Al-Moravides, 115 

Altars, Hebrew, 65; Indian, 178 

Alu-ellu, 19 

Amen (Amon), Egyptian god, 36, 

37, 47, so f. 
Amesha Spentas, 133, 134 
Amitabha, 220 
Amorites, 23 
Amos, 66, 67, 332 
Amour, M., 372 
Amurru (Amorites), 23 
Anahita, 129, 133 
Analects of Confucius, 201, 211 
Anath, Syrian deity, 49 
Anaxagoras, 253 
Anaximander, 253 
Anaximenes, 253 
Anglo-Saxons, 304 f. 
Angra Mainyu; 126, 130, 133, 

134, 135 
Animal worship, 37 
Animism, 6 f., 336 f. 
Anselm, 327 f. 
Antiochus IV, 83 
Anu, god, 22, 25, 27 
Apastamba, 178, 184, 185 
Aphrodite, 242, 247 
Apis bulls, 49 
Apocalypses, 83 
Apocalyptic literature, 83 
Apollo, 242, 247, 272, 277 
Apostles' Creed, 320 f. 
Arabia, 97 f . 



391 



392 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Arahat and Arahatship, 164 

Aralu, 6 

Archangels, Zoroastrian, 123 f., 

126, 133 
Archdemons, Zoroastrian, 134 
Arian controversy, 322 
Aristophanes, 256 f. 
Aristotle, 260 f. 
Arius, 322 
Arjun, 197 

Arjuna, 187, 188, 190 
Ark of Yahweh, 62 
Arminius, Jacobus, 330 
Armstrong, R. C, 369 
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 179, 190, 200, 

368 
Artaxerxes Mnemon, 129 
Artemis, 242 
Aruru, goddess, 28 
Arya Samaj, 198, 200 
Aryaman, 138 
Aryans, 118, 139 
Asakawa, K., 225, 241, 369 
Asher, tribe of, 61 
Ashera, goddess, 61 
Ashera, post, 60, 70 
Ashida, K., 370 
Ash-Shafi^i, 107 
Ashtar, 18, 49 
Ashtart, 18 

Ashton, W. G., 223, 370 
Ashur, city and god, 25 
Ashvagosha, 159, 160, 169 
Asoka, 160, 170, 179 
Assassins, iiof. 
Assyria, 25 
Astar, 18 
Asura, 121 

Atharva-Veda, 141, 153 
Athene, 242, 247 
Athtar, 18 
Atman (Absolute Self), 155 



Aton, sun-god, 47 f. 

Atonement : Babylonian , 31; 

Anselm's doctrine of, 327 f.; 

modern view of, 333 
Attar, 18 

Atum, Egyptian god, 37, 42 
Augury, 271 

Augustine of Hippo, 325 f. 
Augustus, 277 

Auharmazd (Ahura Mazda), 123 
Australian tribes, 4, 5 
Avatars, 191 
Avicibron, 92 

Baal, Syrian god, 49 

Baals, 64 

Babism, inf. 

Babylon, 24 

Babylonia, 17; Semitic back- 
ground in, 18 

Bacchanalia, 275 

Bacchus, 275 

Bacon, B, W., 320 

Bade, W. F., 364 

Bagoses, 80 

Bahaism, in 

Bahaullah, in 

Baldr, Norse god, 306 

BaU, C. J., 202 

Barton, J. L., 366 

Baruch, Apocalypse of, 315 

Basilides, 320 

Bastet, goddess, 37 

Bau, goddess, 21 

Beal, S., 160, 367 

Bedhet, 39 

Bel (Enlil), 24; in creation story, 
27 

Bell, E., 287, 371 

Beltane, Celtic festival, 297 

Benares, 160, 165; temples in, 
196, 199 

Beni Hasn, 49 



INDEX 



393 



Bennett, W. H., 364 

Beowulf, epic of, 305 

Berossos, 28 

Bethel, 64 

Bhagavad-Gita, 179, 190, 191, 200 

Bible closed to laity, 328 

Bibliography, 360 ff . 

Bindusara, 169 

Birth ceremonies, 10 

Bliss, F. J., 36s 

Blodget, H., 208, 222 

Blood-revenge, 60 

Bloomfield, M., 121, 140, 150, 152, 

157, 367 
Boddhidharma, 217 
Boddhisattwas, 173, 218, 232 
Borsippa, 24 
Bo-tree, 162 
Boulger, D. C, 369 
Box, G. H., 364 
Bragi, Norse god of poetry, 306 
Brahma Samaj, 197, 200 
Brahman, Absolute Self, 139, 155, 

182, 185, 19s 
Brahmanas, 142, 153 
Brahmanism, 200 
Brahmans, 162 
Brazen sea, 23 f. 
Breasted, J. H., 35, 36, 43, 45, 46, 

47, 48, 49, SO, 53, 57, 264, 285, 

363 
Briggs, C. A., 372 
Brigit, Irish goddess, 291 f. 
Brinkley, F., 232, 237, 369 
Brinton, D. G., 3, 15, 360 
Brodeur, A. G., 286, 287, 372 
Bronze age, i f. 
Bruce, A. B., 372 
Brythons, religion of, 295 
Bubastis, 37 
Buckley, E., 227 
Budde, K., 364 



Buddha, 162 

Buddhas, 173!. 

Buddhism, 158 ff.; sources of, 
159 f.; doctrines of, 163 ff.; 
mendicant order of, 166 ff.; 
early history of, 168 f.; spread 
of, 170 f.; transformation of, 
171; connection with Chris- 
tianity, 172; Mahayana and 
Hinayana, 172; in China, 
217 ff.; monks of, 218; in 
Japan, 232 ff. 

Budge, E. A. W., 55, 363, 364 

Bugge, S., 306, 309 

Bundahishn, 119, 133, 134, 135 

Bur-Sin, 24 

Burton, E. D., 334, 372 

Busiris, 37, 40 

Buto, 37 

Caesar, Julius, 290 f., 299 
Caird, John, 357, 373 
Cakta sect, 195 
Calendar at Lagash, 22 
Caliphates: Medina, loi f.; 

Damascus, 103; Abbasside, 

103 f.; Fatimite, 104 
Calvin, John, 329 ff. 
Cambyses, 129 
Canon: Old Testament, 88; New 

Testament, 320 f.; Muratori, 

320 
Captivity, Jewish, 80 
Camoy, A. J., 128, 366 
Carpenter, J. E., 74, 75, 3^4 
Carter, J. B., 276, 277, 370 
Carvakas philosophy, 184 
Case, S. J., 372 
Castes, Indian, 154, 178 
Castor, 272 
Celtic religion, 288 f. 
Celts, 286 ff. 
Ceralia, 269 
Ceremonies, 9 f. 



394 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Ceres, 269, 272 

Cerunnos, Celtic god, 291 

Chalcedon, Council of, 323 

Chamberlain, A. F., 361 

Chandragupta I, 169 

Chandragupta II, 180 ff. 

Chang Tao Ling, 217 

Chantepie de la Saussaye, P. D., 
302, 306, 312, 371 

China, 225; its history, 201 fE. 

Christianity, 313 ff.; in second 
century, 320 ff.; in eighteenth 
century, 330 f.; in nineteenth 
century, 331; reactionary move- 
ments in, 331 f.; modern 
thought, 332; universal ele- 
ments in, 334 

Chronology, Vedic, 142 

Chu Hsi, 212, 240 

Church: early Jewish, 315 f.; 

Eastern, 321 f.; Egyptian or 

Coptic, 323; Armenian, 323; 

Abyssinian, 323; Nestorian, 

323; Western, 324 ff.; Roman, 

331 ff.; Anglican, 330. 
Cicero, 265, 276 
Circumcision, 13 
Civa and Civaites, 188, 194, 198, 

200 
Clarke, W. N., 373 
Clement of Alexandria, 129, 321 
Codrington, R. H., 360 
Colossians, Epistle to, 317 
Conard, L. M., 361 
Confucianism, 209 f.; in Japan, 

237 f. 
Confucius, 201, 206, 209 f., 215, 

216, 240 f., 332, 349 
Constantine, 322 f. 
Constantinople: first Council of, 

322; second Council of, 323; 

third Council of, 323 £.; faU of, 

329 
Copleston, R. S., 367 
Copper age, i f . 



Corinthians, first Epistle to, 317 

Comill, H., 82 

Cosmogony: Babylonian, 27; 

Vedic, 148 f.; Teutonic, 309 f. 
Cottle, A. S., 372 
Council of Nicaea, 322 
Councils, oecumenical, 322 f. 
Covenant of Yahweh, 62, 63, 65, 

66, 67; book of, 69 
Creation myths: Babylonian, 27, 

28; Vedic, 148 f.; Teutonic, 

309 f. 

Creed: Apostles', 320 f.; of 
Nicaea, 322; of Chalcedon, 323 

Crete, 243 

Cuchulainn, 294 

Cult, Egyptian, 51 

Cumont, F., 281, 283, 284, 285 
371^ 

Cunningham, A., 175, 367 

Curtis, S. I., 12, 362 

Cybele, 275 f., 280 f. 

Cynics, 278 f. 

Cyprian, 325 

Cyrus, king of Persia, 73, 127 

Dagon, 23 

Dalai Lama, 174 

Damascus Caliphate, 103 

Dan, 64 

Daniel, Book of, 84 

Danu, Irish goddess, 292 

Darius I, 128, 129 

Davids, Mrs. T. W. Rhys, 159, 

163, 165, 367 
Davids, T. W. Rhys, 159, 163, 165, 

166, 169, 177, 367 
Dead, Book of, 55 
Decalogue: earliest, 63; ethical, 

66 
DeGroot, J. J. M., 204, 222, 369 
Deification of Babylonian kings, 

23 
Demeter, 251 f., 272 



INDEX 



395 



Democritus, 253 

Demosthenes, 252 

Dendereh, 37 

"Deposit," doctrine of, 324 

Deussen, Paul, 366 

Deuteronomy, 69 f. 

DhaUa, M. N., 366 

Diana, 271 

Di Manes, 267 

Diognetus, Epistle to, 321 

Dionysos, 250, 272, 275 

Dioma, Celtic goddess, 291 

Di penates, 267 

Dis, 272, 

Divination: Babylonian, 30 f.; 
in China, 220; Etruscan and 
Roman, 271 

Docetism, 320 

Doctrine: of Mohammed, 99 f.; 
of Zoroaster, 125 f.; of Buddha, 
163 iff.; of Jainism, 175 f.; of 
Confucius, 212 f.; of Lao-tze, 
213 f.; of Socrates, 257 f.; of 
Plato, 258 f.; of Aristotle, 260 f.; 
of the Stoics, 261 f.; of Epi- 
curus, 263; of Christianity, 
320 £f, 

Don, British goddess, 295 

Donar (Thor), Teutonic god, 300 

Donatists, 325 

Douglas, R. K., 222, 369 

Dowd, J., 9, 360 

Dravidians, 139 f. 

Driver, S. R., 74, 364 

Druids, 296 f. 

Drummond, J., 365 

Druses, no 

Dungi, 24 

Dutt, R. C, 178, 179, 200, 368 

Dyaush pitar, 146 

Dynasties, Egyptian, 40 f., 44 f., 
Sof. 

Dynasty of Babylon, 24 

Dyophysites, 323 



Ea, Babylonian god, 27; in 
creation, 27; imparts knowl- 
edge, 28; feared man's wisdom, 
29 

Eastern churches, 323, 333 

Ebionites, 321 

Ecclesiastes, 82, 88 

Eckhardt, Meister, 329 

Edda, elder or poetic, 306; 
younger or prose, 306 

Eddy, S., 221 

Edfu, 37 

Edmunds, A. J., 160, 172, 367 

Egypt, 36; Upper and Lower, 39; 
united, 40; empire period of, 
46 f. 

El-Amama, 48 

Elephantine, 37 

Elijah, 65 

El-Kab, 37 

Elkasites, 321 

Ebnore, W. T., 368 

Elysian fields, 6 

Emancipation, Jewish, 93 f., 96 

Emperor- worship, 277 

Enhor, 40 

Enki, 20, 21, 22, 27 

Enlil, 20, 21, 22, 27 

Enneads, Egyptian, 42 f. 

Enoch, Book of, 313, 314 

Environment, 9 

Enzu, 23 

Eos, 242 

Ephesus, Council of, 323 

Epictetus, 278 

Epicureanism, 263; in Italy, 275 f . 

Epicurus, 263 

Erech, 19, 20, 22 

Eridu, 19, 20 

Erim, 19 

Erman, A., 38, 52, 363 

Essenes, 85 

Etana, 29 



396 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Ethical monotheism, 67 

Ethics: Babylonian, 32; Egyp- 
tian, 56; Japanese, 231, 238!.; 
Chinese, 238 f. 

Etruscans, 265 f., 268; influence 
on Rome, 269 f., 271 

Eucharist, 319, 327 

Evolution, doctrine of, 333, 336; 
of idea of God, 335 f. 

Exodus of Israel, 62 

Ezekiel, 72 

Fa Hien, 217 

Fairbanks, A., 370 

Fall of man, 333 

Faraday, W., 372 

Famell, L. R., 246, 248, 251, 264, 
370 

Fatimite caliphate, 104 

Fausboll, W., 367 

Fayum, 37 

Feasts, 9 f.; Roman, 268 f.; Cel- 
tic, 296 f.; Teutonic, 309 

Fetishism, 8 

Fionn saga, 294 f. 

Fires, sacred, 129 

Fisher, G. P., 372 

Flood, Babylonian account of, 28 

Fordicidia, 269 

Fowler, H. T., 78, 364 

Fowler, Ward, 267, 268, 270, 277, 
28s, 370 

Fox, George, 330 

Frank, T., 274 

Fravashi, 126, 135 

Frazer, J. G., 9, 38, 360 

Freyr (Sviagodh), 306 

Friedlander, M., 96, 365 

Friends, the, 330 

Frigg (Frija), Teutonic goddess, 306 

Frija (Frigg), 306 

Fullerton, K., 63, 365 

Future life in Greek thought, 251 



Gad, tribe of, 61 

Galatians, Epistle to, 316 

Garbe, R., 172, 190 

Gardiner, A. H., 45 

Gathas, 120, 122 f. 

Gautama, author of Institutes of 

Sacred Law, 178, 184 
Gautama, founder of Buddhism, 

159 f., 233, 332, 344 f.; life of, 

160 f. 
Ge, 242, 246 
Geb, 42 
Gemara, 89 f. 

Genius, 267; of emperor, 278 

Geonim, 90, 96 

Germans, 299 f. 

Ghetto, 93, 96 

Giants, 309 f. 

GUes, A. H., 202, 203, 369 

GiUen, J., 6, 360 

Gilman, A., 116, 365 

Gimil-Sin, 24 

Girsu, 19 

Glover, T. R., 355, 371 

Gnosticism, 318 f. 

God as philosophical Absolute, 
349 f • 

Gods: in general, 7 f.; Baby- 
lonian, 20 f.; multiplied by 
epithets, 21; Egyptian, 37 f.; 
Vedic, 144 f.; Japanese, 226 f.; 
Greek, 246 f . ; Celtic, 290, 295 f . ; 
Teutonic, 300, 306 f.; caught 
in the meshes of the universe, 
343 f- 

Golden rule: Confucian, 201, 211; 
Taoist, 216 

Goldziher, I., 116, 366 

Goliouth, 80 

Gomes, E. H., 360 

Goodspeed, G. S., 362 

Gordon, G. A., 357, 373 

Gothic cathedrals, 327 

Grannos, Celtic god, 291 



INDEX 



397 



Granth, 197 

Grassmann, H. G., 151, 366 

Gray, L. H., 137, 361, 364, 366, 
367, 368 

Greece, 243 f . 

Greek culture and Christianity. 
321 

Greek influence on Roman reli- 
gion, 272 f. 

Greek philosophy, 252 f., 257 f., 
275 f. 

Gregory, J. W., 360 

Griffis, W. E., 230, 234, 369 

Grimblot, M. P., 159, 367 

Gudea, 23 f. 

Gula, 24 

Gummere, F. B., 301, 371 

Gutium, 23 

Hadad, 23 
Haddon, A. C., 360 
Hades, 6 
Haggai, 75 
Haoma, 122, 147 

Harford-Battersby, G., 74, 75, 364 
Har-khent-khenti, 37 
Harper, R. F., 33, 34, 128, 362 
Harrison, Jane E., 242, 245, 248, 

370 
Hartungm Saga, 303 
Hastings, James, 312, 368, 370, 

371 
Hatch, E., 373 
Hathor, 37 
Haupt, Paul, 364 
Hawes, C. H. and H., 243, 245, 

264 
Heaven: Vedic, 151; Chinese 

worship of, 207; Chinese belief 

in, 218, 219, 221; among 

Japanese, 228 
Hebrews, 58!.; formation of 

nation, 60 f. 
Hebron, 64 



Hegel, G. W. F., 331 
Hehn, J., 362 

Heimdallr, 306 

Hel, 6, 310 

Heliopolis, 37. See On 

Helios, 242 

Hell: Mohammedan, 97, 100; 

Zoroastrian, 136; Vedic, 151; 

Chinese belief in, 218, 219 
Hera, 247 
Heraclitus, 253 
Herbig, G., 371 
Hercules, 272 
Hereford, R. T., 96, 364 
Hermes, 247 f., 272 
Hermonthis, 49 
Hermopolis, 37 
Herodian, 131 
Herodotus, 52, 57, 128, 129 
Hershon, 96 
Herzl, T., 94 f., 96 
Hesiod, 242, 249, 264 
Hezekiah, 68 
Eildehrand Lay, 303 
Hillel, 86 

Hindu reform, 197 f. 
Hindu textbook of religion and 

ethics, 368 
Hinduism, 178 ff., 199 
Hirth, F., 202, 222, 369 
Hittites, 118 

Hoemle, A. F. R., 157, 367 
Hogarth, D. G., 244 
Holiness code, 74 f. 
Holtzmann, Oscar, 372 
Homer, 248 
Hommel, F., 121 
Hopkins, E. W., 176, 177, 187, 

200, 361, 367, 368 
Horton, A., 371 
Horus, 37, 39 
Hosea, 66, 67, 332 



398 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Howitt, A. W., 4, 360 

Hrihor, Egyptian priest and king, 
50 

Hsiao King, 206 

Hunter, W. W., 157 

Hutchinson, H. N., 360 

Hymns: Babylonian, 31; Egyp- 
tian, 36; Vedic, 141 

Ibn Ezra: Abraham, 92; Moses, 

92 
Ignatius of Antioch, 320 
Ikhnaton, 47 f. 
Iliad, 242, 247 

Images of gods in human form, 40 
Incantation, Babylonian, 16, 31 
Incantations, 191 
India, 139 f.; its history, 169 f., 

179 f. 
Indra, 118, 138, 143 f., 174, 192 
Ininni, 21 
Inquisition, 328 
Intercession, 32 
Ipuwer, 45, 56 
Iran, 117, 118 
Irenaeus, 324 
Isaiah, 66, 67, 68, 332; second, 73; 

third, 75 
Ishtar, 18, 20; identified with 

star, 25; goddess of Nineveh 

and Arbela,^ 25; war-goddess, 

25; in creation, 27; descent to 

underworld, 28, 43 
Isis, 42, 43, 281 f. 
Islam, meaning of, 99 
Ismailites, no 
I Tsin, 217 
Izanagi, 225, 229 
Izanami, 225, 229 

Jackson, A. V. W., 118, 123, 124, 

137, 366 
Jacobi, H,, 175, 200 
Jainism, 175 f., 346 



Jamnia, 88 

Janua, 267, 270 

Japan, 223 ff. 

Jastrow, M., 33, 34, 362, 363 

jatakas, 159 

Jehovah. See Yahweh 

Jeremiah, 70 f., 332 

Jeremias, A,, 362 

Jerusalem, 64, 69, 100 

Jesus, 313 f., 334, 355 f. 

Jethro, 62 

Jevons, J. B., 12, 13, 15, 361 

Jewish Christianity, 321 

Jews: in Persia, 80; in Egypt, 81 

Jezebel, 65 

Job, 80 

Jodo, Japanese sect, 235 

Jodo Shin Shu, Japanese sect, 235 

John the Baptist, 313, 319 

John, Gospel of, 318 f., 356 

John, I. B., 371 

Jones, R. M., 373 

Josephus, Flavius, 80, 131 

Josiah, 70 

Jowett, B., 242 

Judah, tribe of, 61 

Judaism, 76, 79 f., 95, 96; con- 
nections with Zoroastrianism, 
136 f. 

Judgment day, Zoroastrian, 135 f. 

Juno, 267, 270 

Jupiter, 268, 270 

Justin, 131 

Ka,S3 
Kabir, 96 f . 
Kalidasa, 195 
Kami, 226, 228, 237, 240 
Kant, Emanuel, 331 
Kapadia, S. A., 366 
Kapila, 181 
Kapilavastu, 160 



INDEX 



399 



Karaites, 90 f., 96 

Karma, 156, 164, 165 

Kassites, 125 

Keane, A. H., 360 

Keith, A. B., 367, 368 

Kenites, 61 

Kent, C. F., 364 

Kharejites, 108 

KJinum, 37 

Khons, 37 

Kimchi, David, 92 

King, L, 361 

King, L. W., 33, 34, 362 

Kingdom: Old Egyptian, 41, 51; 
Middle Egyptian, 44 

Kingdom of God: Jesus' concep- 
tion of, 314; as the perfect 
social state, 333 

Kish, 20, 22 

Kittel, R., 364 

Knox, G. W., 173, 227, 228, 232 
234, 235, 239, 241, 370 

Kohler, K., 365 

Koptos, 37 

Koran, 97, loi f. 

Kore, 272 

Krishna, 188, 189 f., 192, 193 £., 
200 

Kuan-yin, goddess of mercy, 220 
Kugler, F. X., 22 
Kutha, 22 
Kwang-tze, 216, 217 

Lacouperie, J. de, 202 
Lagash, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25 
Laity, Buddhistic, 168 
Lama, 174 
Lane-Poole, S,, 365 
Lang, Andrew, 361 
Lamnan, C. R., 366 
Lao-tze, 210, 213, 347! 
Laralia, 268 
Lares, 267, 277 



Lamed, A., 372 

Law: Jewish, 80 f.; Moham- 
medan, 105 f. 

Leah tribes, 60, 62 

Legge, J., 222, 369 

Leinster, Book of, 286 

Leontopolis, 37 

Levites, 72, 75 

Liber, 272 

Liberia, 272 

Life after death, 5; in Babylonia, 
28; in Egypt, 54; among 
Hebrews, 76 f.; Mohammedan, 
100; Vedic, 152; Celtic, 298; 
Teutonic, 310 

U Kt, 201, 206, 207 

Lindsay, T. M., 373 

Liver divination, 271 

Llew, Welsh god, 295 

Lloyd, A., 370 

Llyr, British god, 295 

Locke, John, 330 f. 

Lodge, H. C, 157, 241, 369 

Loki, 306 

Lopez, F. v., 360 

Ludlow, J. M., 371 

Lug, Irish god, 295 

Lugal-erim, Babylonian god, 21 

Lugalzaggisi, Babylonian king, 22 

Lugnasad, Celtic festival, 298 

Luke, 313, 315 

Luther, Martin, 329, 330, 376 

Lyddeker, R., 360 

Mabinogion, 295 
Maccabean revolt, 83 f. 
MacCulloch, J. A., 286, 288, 290, 

291, 292, 296, 297, 298, 312, 

371 
Macdonald, D. B., 113, 116, 365 
Macdonell, A. H., 143, 151, 152, 

157, 186, 187, 191, 366 
McGiffert, A. C, 373 



400 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Mackenzie, D. A., 57, 362, 363 
MacLagan, R. C, 294, 371 
Macnkol, N., 200, 368 
Magadha, 160, 161, 165, 169 
Magi, 129 
Magic, 13 f.; Egyptian, 52; Vedic, 

152 
Mahdbhdrata, 152, 179, 186 f., 188, 

189, 192 
Mahafify, J. P., 363 
Mahavira, 175 f., 346 
Mahayana Buddhism, 217, 219, 

349 
Maimonides, 92 
Malik ibn Anas, 106 
Malkatu, Babylonian water- 
goddess, 23 
Manasseh, king of Judah, 69 
Manichaeans, 325 
Manu, ordinances of, 178, 184, 

185 f. 
Maponus, Celtic god, 291 
Marcion, 320 
Marcus Aurelius, 278, 279 
Marduk, Babylonian god, 24, 26 

27 
Margoliouth, D. S., 116, 365 
Mark, 315 
Marti, K., 78, 364 
Maruts, Vedic storm-gods, 138, 

148. 
Mathews, S., 334, 372 
Matthew, 315 
Mecca, 98, 99 
Medes, 119 
Media, 119 
Medina, 100 
Medina caliphate, loi f. 
Megasthenes, 188, 195 
Melkart, 65 
Memphis, 37, 40, 41 
Mena (Menes), 40 
Mencius. 206, 211, 216 



Mendelssohn, Moses, 93 f. 

Mendes, 49 

Menno, Simons, 330 

Menziez, A., 361 

Mercury, 272 

Messiah: Egyptian, 45; Hebrew, 
67 f.; Zoroastrian, 135; Jesus' 
conception of, 314 f.; Jewish 
Christians accept Jesus as, 315; 
Paul accepts Jesus as, 317 

Messianic hope in Israel, 67 

Methodists, 331 

Meyer, Eduard, 17 

Micah, 66 

Middle Ages, Christianity in, 326, 
327 f. 

Midianite-Kenites, 61, 62 

Mimansa, 184 

Min, Egyptian god, 37 

Minerva, 270 

Ming Ti, 217 

Minoan religion, 244 f . 

Minoans, 243 

Mirza Ali, in 

Misanthrope, an Egyptian, 46 

Mishna, 88 f., 96 

Missions : Mohammedan , 1 05 ; 
Buddhistic, 170; modern Chris- 
tian, 331 

Mitanni, 118 

Mithra, 118, 121, 131, 133, 283 f. 

Mitra, 121, 138, 145, 148, 184, 192 

Modem Christian thought, 332 f. 

Mohammed, 98, 99, 100, 353 

Mohammedanism, 97 f.; estimate 
of, IIS i', 353 f. 

Mohammedans under Zoroas- 
trians, 132 f, 

Monier- Williams, M., 200, 368 

Monks, Buddhistic, 166 f. 

Monophysites, 296 

Monotheism: none in Babylonia, 
26; in Egypt, 47 f.; Hebrew, 
67 f., 71, 350 f.; Mohammedan, 



INDEX 



401 



99j 353 f-; Zoroastrian, 125 f,, 
352 f.; supposed monotheism in 
China, 205; Christian, 332, 
355 f. 

Montefiore, C, 365 

Montgomery, J. A., 81, 96, 361, 364 

Moore, C. H., 370 

Moore, E. C, 373 

Moore, G. F., 34, 57, 133, 137, 157, 
177, 200, 222, 241, 285, 361, 364 

Morris, M., 361 

Moses, 60, 61, 62 

Moses ibn Ezra, 92 

Moulton, J. H., 120, 128, 129, 137, 
366 

Miiller, F. Max, 122, 365, 366, 367, 
368, 369 

Miiller, W. Max, 364 

Muir, Sir William, 116, 365 

Mmnmified animals, 49 f . 

Murray, Sir Gilbert, 246, 247, 248, 
249, 264, 370 

Mut, Egyptian goddess, 37 

Mutazelites, 104, 112 

Mystery religions in Greece, 250 f.; 
in Roman empire, 279 f. 

Mysticism of Paul, 317 

Mystics, Mohammedan, 114! 

Myths: their nature, 2; Baby- 
lonian, 27 f.; Egyptian, 54; 
Celtic, 293 f.; Teutonic, 303 f. 

Nabu, Babylonian god, 24 
Nana (Ishtar), 20, 22 
Nanak, 197 

Nannar, god of Ur; 22, 24 
Naram-Sin, Babylonian king, 23 
Naville, E., 363 
Nazarenes, 321 
Nebuchadrezzar, 72 
Nehemiah, 72, 79 
Nekhbet, Egyptian deity, 37 
Neolithic, i 
Neo-Platonism, 279 



Nephthys, Egyptian goddess, 42 

Neptune, 272 

Nergal, Babylonian god, 22 

Nerthus, Teutonic goddess, 306, 
308 

Neumann, K. E., 367 

New Testament Canon, formation 
of, 320 

Nibelungenlied, 303 f. 

Nicaea, first Council of, 322; 
second Council of, 324 

Nichiren, Japanese sect, 236 f. 

Nicholson, R. A., 116, 365 

Nidaba, Babylonian goddess, 23 

Nina, Babylonian city and god- 
dess, 19, 21, 25 

Nineteenth-century expansion of 
knowledge, 331 

Nineveh, 25 

Ningirsu, Babylonian god, 19, 21, 
25 

Ninib, Babylonian god, 25 

Ninkharsag, Babylonian goddess, 
21, 27 

Ninlil, Babylonian goddess, 21 

Nintu, Babylonian goddess, 27 

Nippur, 20, 22 

Nirvana, 164 f., 173, 174 

Nisin, Babylonian city, 24 

Nitobe, I., 230, 231, 233, 238, 369 

Noble Truths, Buddhistic, 163 f. 

Nomes, Egyptian, 37 

Noms, 307 

Nowack, W., 364 

Numa, calendar of, 268 

Nims, Buddhistic, 166 f., 168 

Nusari, 109 f. 

Nut, Egyptian goddess, 42 

Nutt, A., 371 

Nyaya, 184 

Qannes, name of god Ea, 28 
Odin (Wodan), Teutonic god, 300 



402 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Oecumenical Councils, 322 f. 
Ogmios, Celtic god, 290 
Oman, J. C, 200, 368 
Omar Khayyam, 343 
Omaj^ad caliphate, 103 
Ombos, 37, 39 
Omens, Babylonian, 30 f. 
On, Egyptian city, 41, 42, 49 
Opet, Egyptian goddess, 37 
Oral law, 86 

Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), 123 
Orphic mysteries, 252 
Orr, J., 373 

Osiris, 37, 38, 40, 42, 43, 45, 49, Si, 

54, 55, 281 f. 
Othman, third caliph, 102 
Outline of a book to be written by 

students, 379 f. 

Pahlavi-texts, 119, 122 

Paleolithic, i 

Pales, 269 

Palestine, 58 f. 

Palmer, E. H., 365 

Pantheism, 341 f. 

Pantheon: Babylonian, 19!.; 
Egyptian, 39 f., 42; Vedic, 
144 f.; Greek, 242; Celtic, 290; 
Teutonic, 300 f . 

Papyrus Harris, 50 

Paradise: Egyptian, 43; Moham- 
medan, 97, 100; Zoroastrian, 
136; Celtic, 298!.; Teutonic, 
310 

Parilia, 269 

Parmenides, 253 

Pastoral Epistles, 324 

Patau jali, 182 

Paton, L. B., 34, 60, 78 

Patriarchal narratives, 59 

Paul, 316 f.; Judaism in time of, 
87; mysticism of, 317 

Payne, E. J., 360 

Peasant, the eloquent, 45 



Pelagians, 325 

Persephone, 272 

Persia, 1 1 7 f . 

Persian Gulf, 17, 19 

Peters, J. P., 95, 364 

Petrie, W. M. F., 57, 339, 363 

Pharisees, 85 

Philo Judeaus, 87, 96 

Philosophers: Indian, 181 f.; 

Greek, 252 f., 257 f., 261 
Philosophy: Indian, 181 f.; Greek, 

252 f., 257 f. 

Pillars: Semitic, 60, 70; Aegean, 

246, 247 f. 
Pindar, 254 
Pitakas, Buddhistic sacred books, 

159 
Plato, 242, 258 f.; 279 
Plumtre, E. H., 242 
Pluto, 272 
PoUux, 272 

Polydemonism, 204, 206 
Pomerium, 270, 282 
Pope: asserts authority over civil 

power, 326; infallibility of, 331 
Poseidon, 272 

Pragapati, 139 (same as PrajSpati) 
Prajapati, Vedic creator, 148, 184 
Prayer wheels, Tibetan, 175 
Prayers: Babylonian, 31; Japa- 
nese, 231 
Priesthoods: Babylonian, 29 f.; 

Egyptian, 51; Hebrew, 75, 76; 

Zoroastrian, 129; Indian, 154; 

Celtic, 296 f.; Teutonic, 307 f. 

Primitive peoples, i 

Primitive religions, importance of, 

14 
Prithivi, Mother Earth, 147 

Prophets, Hebrew, 66 f . 

Proserpine, 272 

Protestantism, 331 f., 333 

Proverbs, 82 

Psalter, Hebrew, 80, 81, 84 



INDEX 



4<^3 



Psychological unity of man, 2 
Ptah, Egyptian god, 37, 40, 45 
Ptah-hotep, precepts of, 35, 46, 56 
Puberty ceremonies, 10 
Punjab, 144 

Purgatory, doctrine of, 326 
Pushan, Vedic sun-god, 148 
Pyramid-texts, 35, 43 
Pythagoras, 253 

Quibell, J. E., 339 

Rabbi Akiba, 88 f. 

Rabbi Judah, the Prince, 88 

Rachel tribes, 60, 62, 64 

Rahula, the Buddha's son, 166 

Rainey, R., 372 

Ram Mohan Ray, 197, 376 

Ramanuja, 183 

Ramayana, 191 f. 

Ramsay, W. M., 87, 316 

Ramses II, king of Egypt, 49 

Rashi, Jewish scholar, 92 

Rawlinson, George, 132, 137 

Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 121 

Re, Egyptian sun-god, 42, 45, 55, 56 

Reactions in Christianity, 331 

Reform Judaism, 94 f . 

Reformation, the, 329 f. 

Religion: imiversalityof,3; nature 
of, 4; importance of primitive, 
14; Babylonian and Assyrian, 
16 f.; Egyptian, 35 f-; Hebrew, 
60 f.; importance of Hebrew, 
77; Persian before Zoroaster, 
121 f,; Vedic, 144 f.; Chinese: 
primitive, 205 ; state, 206 f . ; 
present, 219 f.; Japanese, primi- 
tive, 226; of Greece, 242 f,; 
Roman, 265 f.; Celtic, 287 f.; 
Teutonic, 300 f. 

Resheph, Syrian god, 49 

Resurrection: Jewish, 85; Zoroas- 

trian, 135 f. 
Rhea, 242, 245 



Rhys, John, 290, 291, 371 

Rig-Veda, 140, 141, 185 

Rimush, Babylonian king, 23 

Ripley, W. Z., 360, 371 

Ritual, Vedic, 149 

Robigalia, 269 

Robinson, B. W., 334 

Rockhill, W. W., 160, 367 

Rogers, R. W., 33, 34, 68, 362 

Roman church, 320, 325 f., 331 f. 

Roman people, 265 f. 

Roman religion, 266 f.; of city- 
state, 268 f.; influence of repub- 
lic on, 271 f.; social changes 
and, 272 f.; early empire period, 
277 f.; individuahsm in, 278 f. 

Rome, 266 f. 

Rosenau, W, 365 

Rouse, W. H. D., 370 

Rudra, Indian god, 148, 184, 188, 
194 

Rydberg, V., 371 

Sabatier, A., 372 

Sacrifice, 11 f.; theories of, 12; 

Egyptian, 51 f.; Vedic, 149 f-*, 

in Mahdbhdrata, 178 f., 188; 

Vishnuite, 192; Chinese, 207 f.; 

Japanese, 230 f.; Celtic, 296 f.; 

Teutonic, 307 f. 
Sadducees, 85 
Saga: Fionn, 294 f.; German, 

303 f.; Norse, 306 
Sakyas, Indian tribe, 160 
Salvation: Vedic, 150; in Upani- 

shads, 156 
Samaritans, 81 
Sama-Veda, 141 
Samhain, Celtic festival, 297 
Samuel, 64 
Sangha, the Buddhistic order, 

166 f. 
Sankhya philosophy, 181 f. 
Sargon, Babylonian king, 22 
Sasanian dynasty, 119, 131 f. 



404 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Savitar, Vedic god, 148 

Saxneat (Saxnot), Saxon god, 305 

Scandinavians, the, 306 

Schechem, 64 

Schools, Babylonian, 30 

Schrader, E., 119 

Schwenkfeld, Caspar, 330 

Scott, E. F., 372 

Scott, J. G., 361 

Secret societies, 10 

Sects: Mohammedan, 108 f., 

113 f.; Buddhistic, 172!; 

Hindu, 180 f., 184, 186 f., 192, 

194; Japanese, 233 f. 
Seelye, Kate Chambers, 366 
Sekhmet, Egyptian goddess, 56 
Semites, 17 f., 19, 20 
Seneca, 278, 279 
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 68, 

69, 70 
Serapeum, 49 

Serapis, Egyptian god, 51, 281 f. 
Servant of Yahweh, 74 
Set, Egyptian god, 37, 39, 42 
Seti I, Egyptian king, 49 
Shamash, Babylonian god, 23 
Shammai, 86 
Shang-ti, 205, 220 
Shara, Babylonian god, 22 
Shetna, 79 
Sheol, 6 
Shi King, 206 
Shiites, 108 
Shiloh, 64 

Shingon sect (Japanese), 234 f. 
Shinto, 225, 229 f., 238; ritual, 223 
Shrines of Yahweh, 64 
Shu, Egyptian god, 37, 42 
Shu King, 204, 205, 206 
Shukamuna, Kassite war-god, 25 
Shumway, D. B., 371 
Sibylline oracles, 272 
Sikhs, 196 



Simon, the Maccabee, 84 

Sin: Babylonian conception of, 
31; Chinese view of, 219; no 
consciousness of, in Japan, 228; 
Christian view of, 333 

Sin, Babylonian moon-god, 25 

Sir, Babylonian serpent deity, 21 

Sirach, 82 

Sirius, 22 

Siut, Egyptian nome, 37 

Skepticism: Egyptian, 46; Roman, 
276 

Smith, G. A., 59, 69, 78 

Smith, G. B., 334 

Smith, H. P., 364 

Smith, V. A., 175, 196, 200, 367 

Smith, W. R., 12, 15, 98, 362 

Sobk, Egyptian god, 37 

Social organization: influence of, 
8 f.; Vedic, 143 f.; life in Japan, 
224 f.; changes in Greece, 250; 
in Rome, 273 f. 

Socrates, 257 !., 350 

Solomon, 65 

Soma, intoxicating drink, 122, 147 

Soma, Vedic god, 138, 145, 147, 
184, 192 

Song of Songs, 88 

Soothill, W. E., 212, 217, 218, 220, 
221, 222, 369 

Sophocles, 255 

Soshyans,Zoroastrian Messiah, 135 

Soul, the, 4; in Egypt, 54; exist- 
ence denied by Gautama, 164 f.; 
among Celts, 288 f. 

Spanish caliphate, 103 f. 

Spencer, B., 6, 360 

Spirits, 6 f.; Hebrew, 77; Chinese, 
204!.; Teutonic, 307 

Standards, prehistoric in Egypt, 38 

Stark, H. A., 157, 367 

State religion of China, 206 f. 

Steindorf, G., 40, 54, 57, 363 

Stevens, G. B., 372 

Stevenson, Mrs. S., 177, 365 



INDEX 



405 



Stoicism, 261 f.; in Rome, 276 f., 

278 f. 
Stoics, 261 f. 
Stone Age, i 
Strabo, 131, 245 
Sumerians, 17 f., 19, 20 
Sunnites, 109 
Surga, Yedic sun-god, 148 
Survivals, influence of, 337 
Suttas, 159 
Sviagodh (Freyr), 306 
Swan-maidens, 307 
Synagogue, 84 f. 
Syria, 23, 84 

Taboo, 10 

Tacitus, 299, 300 

Tabnud, 88, 90, 96 

Tammuz, Babylonian god, 19, 43 

Tanis, Eg>^tian city, 50 

Tao, 213 f., 347 f. 

Too Teh King, 201, 213, 214, 215 

Taoism, 213 f., 220 

Tauler, John, 329 

Taurobolium, 280 

Teachings: of Zoroaster, 125 f.; 
of Confucius, 209 f.; of Lao-tze, 
213; of Jesus, 314 f. 

Tefnut, Egyptian goddess, 42 

Temples: Babylonian, 29; Egyp- 
tian, 50 f.; Hebrew, 64 f.; re- 
building of, 75; Hindu, 196; 
Shinto, 230; Teutonic, 307 f. 

Temptation: of Zoroaster, 124; 
of Gautama, 162; of Jesus, 313 f. 

Tendai, Japanese sect, 233 

TertuUian, 325 

Teutons, the, 299 f . ; and Chris- 
tianity, 301 f. 

Thales, 253 

Thebes, Eg>T)tian city, 37, 45, 48, 
49 

Theodore of Mopsuestia, 323 

Theologians, Mohammedan, iii f. 

Thessalonians, Epistles to, 317 



Thietmar, Danish festival, 309 

This, Egyptian nome, 40 

Thomas a Kempis, 329 

Thomas Aquinas, 328 

Thompson, R. C, 363 

Thor (Donar), Teutonic god, 300 

Thoth, Egyptian god, 37 

Thothmes III, Egyptian king, 47 

Tiamat, Babylonian sea-dragon, 27 

Tien Fei, 220 

Tiglath-pileser IV, Assyrian king, 

68 
Tigris-Euphrates Valley, 17 
Timothy, Epistles to, 324 
Tiu (Ziu, Tyr), Teutonic god, 300 
Tobit, book of, 133 
Topics for further study, 374 f. 
Totemism, 11, 37; symbols, 60 
Toy, C. H., 3, 6, IS, 37, 61, 361 
Tradition, doctrine of, 324 f. 
Transmigration of souls, 7, 155 f., 

190, 252, 260 
Trans-substantiation, 327 
Triad of gods: first Babylonian, 

24; second Babylonian, 25; 

third Babylonian, 26; Egyptian 

42; Hindu, 195 
Trinity, doctrine of, 322 f., 332, 

356 f. 
Tuatha De Danann, 292 f. 
Tucker, T. G., 283 
Tyr (Tiu, Ziu), Teutonic god, 300 

Umma, Babylonian city, 22 
Underworld, 5; Babylonian, 28; 

Egyptian, 54; Hebrew, 76; 

Vedic, 152; Japanese, 228; 

Greek, 251 f. 
Unis, king of Egypt, 35, 42, 338 f. 
Universality of religion, 3 
Upanishads, 142, 152, 154 f., 163, 

179, 181, 182, 185 
Ur: Babylonian city, 19; dynasty 

of, 19, 22 
Ur-Bau, Babylonian ruler, 23 



4o6 



THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 



Urkagina, Babylonian king, 22 
Uru-azagga, Babylonian city,i9, 21 
Ushas, Vedic Aurora, 146 
Vaisali, Indian town, birthplace of 

Vardhamana, 175; Buddhistic 

council at, 169 
Valentinus, 293 
Vallabhacaris, Hindu Vishnuite 

sect, 193 
Vallabhacarya, founder of the 

Vallabhacaris sect, 193 
Vardhamana, founder of Jainism, 

also called Mahavira, 175, 346 
Varro, 276 
Varuna, Vedic god, 118, 138, 145, 

151, 152, 192 
Vata or Vayu, Vedic atmospheric 

god, 148 
Vedanta, 182, 198 
Vedas, 121, 140 f. 
Vendidad, 117, 119, 130 
Venus, planet, 25 
Vesta, 267 
Victoria, 270 
Vimilia, 269 
Vishnu, Vedic god, 148, 188, 189 f., 

191, 192; institutes of, 192 f. 
Vishtaspa, 1 24 f . 
Vesperad, 120 
Vogelsang, F., 45 
Volcanic theory of Yahweh, 61 

Wahabites, 114 
Walhalla, 310 
Walker, W., 372 
Walkyries, 307 
Wallis, Louis, 364 
Ward, W. H., 373 
Warren, H. C, 367 
Webster, H., 10, 360 
Wenley, R. M., 371 
Wep-wat, Egyptian god, 37 
Wesley, John, 331 
Williams, S. W., 222, 369 
n, E., 369 



Winckler, H., 118 

Wissowa, G., 370 

W^odan (Odin), Teutonic god, 300 

Workman, H. B., 372 

Wright, W. C, 253, 370 

Wto, Egyptian god, 37 

WycklifFe, John, 319, 320 

Xenophanes, 253 

Xenophon, 257 

Xerxes, 128 

Yahweh: God of Israel, 58 f.; 
Kenite god, 61; agricultural 
god, 63; God of all, 67; dwelling- 
place Zion, 69; God of love, 71; 
servant of, 74 

Yajur-Veda, 141 

Yama, Vedic god of underworld, 
152 

Yang, Chinese spirit, 204 f. 

Yashts, part of Avesta, 119 f., 
130; Mihir- Yashts, 128 

Yasna, part of Avesta, 117, 120 

Yasodhara, wife of the Buddha, 166 

Yggdrasil, the Norse World-tree, 
378 

Yi King, 206, 208 

Yin, Chinese spirit, 204 

Yoga, 182 

Yuan Chwang, 217 

Yule-tide, 309 

Zamama, Babylonian god, 20, 22 

Zarathustra (Zoroaster), 122, 352 

Zecheriah, 75 

Zeller, E,, 259, 264 

Zen, Japanese sect, 236 

Zeno, founder of Stoicism, 261 f. 

Zeus, 242, 245, 246, 247, 248, 255 

Zionism, 94, 96 

Ziu (Tiu, Tyr), Teutonic god, 300 

Zoroaster, 122 f., 136 f., 350, 352 

Zoroastrianism 117 f., 136 f., 352 f. 

Zwemer, S. M., 98, 116 

Zwingli, Ulrich, 329 



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